By now it’s downright ridiculous, but once again the weekend’s box office winners are also the week’s critical duds, with the aptly named "Failure To Launch" balancing a Tomatometer of 30 percent with an opening B.O. of $24.6 mil.
That’s right, the Matthew McConaughey–Sarah Jessica Parker rom-com that gave all the scribes fodder for their cannons with its title alone managed to debut at #1 last weekend, with an impressive per-screen average of $8K. According to Variety, we have the over-25 female demographic combined with the hunky powers of McConaughey to thank for this.
Coming in second last weekend was Tim Allen‘s mongrel of a flick, "The Shaggy Dog," which actually tied "Failure to Launch" with 30% on the Tomatometer but performed well below at the box office with a total of $16 million from 3501 theaters.
Third in theaters last weekend was the Alexandre Aja – Wes Craven remake, "The Hills Have Eyes." Faring slightly better with critics (51% on the Tomatometer) seemed to do little good for the mutant hill-people slasher, which brought in $15.5 million (but played in only 2620 theaters and had a much narrower, bloodthirstier audience than the top two flicks).
Interesting results came with the performance of Oscar winner "Crash," which Lions Gate re-released last week following the Best Picture win. Opening in only 175 theaters, the pic brought in a disappointing $357,000, according to Variety.
Also, the mighty "Madea" was finally knocked off its cushy perch by the top three openers and last week’s "16 Blocks," which pulled in $7.3 million to take number 4 at the B.O. "Madea’s Family Reunion" added only $5.8 million to its total so far of nearly $56 mil, and dropped from #1 last week to #5.
For the complete returns from last weekend, click over to the Rotten Tomatoes Box Office page.
