Box Office Leaders

Paramount Pictures’ Cloverfield is a record opening for January surpassing the $35.9million premiere weekend of Star Wars Special Edition which used to hold the box office record for January. This JJ Abrams produced film is about a monster attack in New York City. It is a document of how five young New Yorkers attempt to survive the most horrifying event of their lives. It all starts when these five youngsters throw a going-away party to their friend and on that same night appears a skyscraper sized-monster.

Directed by Matt Reeves, the film has Michael Stahl- David portraying the lead. Athough the movie hits big in the blockbuster, the moviegoers and ticket buyers rated it as a mediocre ‘C’.

Anything goes on Nim’s Island, for this is a magical land ruled by the imagination of a young girl. This world mirrors that of Alex Rover, the world’s greatest adventurer and Nim’s favorite literary character. But when Nim’s father disappears one day, a sudden twist of fate brings Nim and the reclusive author of the Rover books together. Now both women need to get courage from Alex Rover, their fictional hero, and find strength in each other to conquer the island and rescue Nim’s father.

Inspired by the true story of five students who changed blackjack forever, 21 is about the MIT student Ben Campbell in desperate need for tuition money. He turns to cards for the answer and gets recruited by a group of gifted students who frequent the casinos at Las Vegas every weekend. Armed with fake identities and with their unorthodox professor Micky Rosa leading the group, they turn the odds of blackjack into their favor and hoard millions of dollars. Now the challenge is to keep the numbers straight and stay one step ahead of Cole Williams, a law enforcer who’s onto their tricks.

Sony Pictures’ 21 tops this weekend box office grossing $24million. A true story of how Vegas was beaten by millions of the brightest young minds in the country. The movie revolves around an M.I.T student( Ben Campbell) who is need of tution and finds answer in cards. Veteran actor and academy award winner, Kevin Spacey, leads the cast as Mickey Rosa, a math professor and stats genius. Together with Jim Stargess as Ben Campbell they cracked a code to beat the casinos big time.
Directed by Robert Luketic and written by Allan Loeb and Peter Steinfield, the movie is rated C by the critics and B by the ticket buyers.

Street Kings is a fast-paced police flick directed by David Ayer. Keanu Reeves is Tom Ludlow, a veteran LAPD detective on a mission to find the killers of his murdered partnet, Detective Terrance Washington (played by Terry Crews). Academy Award Winner Forest Whitaker is Captain Wander, Tom’s supervisor, who’s in charge of keeping his actions within the confines of the law and away from the meddling Internal Affairs Captain Riggs, played by Hugh Laurie. Tom teams up with the new robbery homicide detective to find Terrance’s killer and goes through Los Angeles’s communities and gangs to look for clues.

Smart People is the black comedy film about Lawrence Wetherhold (Dennis Quaid), a self-absorbed widower who works as a literature professor. He has alienated his son and transformed his daughter (Ellen Page) into an unfriendly, overachieving teenager. When he falls in love with Janet (Sarah Jessica Parker)& lt; a former student, his ne’er-do-well stepbrother (Thomas Haden Church) shows up at his doorstep and triggers in him the need to change and rebuild his bridges with his family members before he can make any important decisions in his life.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The animated penguin tale “Happy Feet” and the James Bond adventure “Casino Royale” were a one-two punch at the box office for the third-straight weekend. “Happy Feet” was No. 1 again with $17.5 million, while “Casino Royale” finished second with $15.1 million. “Happy Feet,” Warner Bros., $17,545,418, 3,804 locations, $4,612 average, $121,501,018, three weeks.

Al Pacino stars as Dr. Jack Gramm, a college professor who moonlights as a forensic psychiatrist for the FBI. When Gramm receives a death threat claiming he has only 88 minutes to live, he must use all his skills and training to narrow down the possible suspects, who include a disgruntled student, a jilted former lover, and a serial killer who is already on death row, before his time runs out.

88 Minutes is a movie starring Al Pacino, Benjamin McKenzie, Alicia Witt, Leelee Sobieski and Deborah Kara Unger. The film began filming in the Vancouver area on October 8, 2005 and wrapped in December 2005. The film was released in various territories during 2007, but is not expected to be released in the U.S. until April 18th 2008.

Universal Pictures’ Romance Comedy movie, ‘definitely, maybe’ hits the blockbuster this love month with $31million gross landing as the top 6 blockbuster film for the weekend. The film which premiered on Valentine’s day is about a Manhattan political consultant who happens to be a dad of a ten year old girl who questions his past relationships in the midst of his divorce. Portrayed by Ryan Reynolds as Will, the movie revolves around his life before marriage and his relationships with three very different women. As he hides the real names of these women, her daughter Maya will guess who her father marries in the end.

It’s Trivia time! We are about to give you the Top 10 All-Time USA Box Office Leaders. The ranking is based on its earning during its release. Here are the the movies that made it on the list. Special thanks to imdb.com:

1. Titanic (1997) $600,779,824
2. Star Wars (1977) $460,935,665
3. Shrek 2 (2004) $436,471,036
4. E.T.: The Extra-Terrestrial (1982) $434,949,459
5. Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace (1999) $431,065,444
6. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest (2006) $423,032,628
7. Spider-Man (2002) $403,706,375
8. Star Wars: Episode III – Revenge of the Sith (2005) $380,262,555
9. The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King (2003) $377,019,252
10. Spider-Man 2 (2004) $373,377,893

Have you seen all the movies mentioned above? If not, then I guess its about time to ask your family and friends for an overnight DVD movie marathon at home.