Box Office Quickie

There's not much to report with this weekend's box office. It's more of the same as every studio, shaking from fear of the Bat, avoiding getting anywhere near opening weekend of The Dark Knight Rises.  Ice Age #8 (No, seriously I have no idea how many there have been now. No wait, I do: Too Many.) had the weekend to itself but for Spider-Man holdover and Ted's word of mouth.

Top five chart adapted from Box Office Mojo...

Of this week's top five Ted and Magic Mike are the most profitable on account of their lower than average budgets. But once you count in merchandising I suppose Brave, despite a budget nearly the size of its domestic gross (thus far), will be the winner... eventually. Disney Princesses = Profits Happily Ever After. 

What did you see this weekend? I stayed in and watched Jeff, Who Lives At Home as you commanded. More on that one soon.

Box Office Special. A Sticky Cartoon Strip-a-Thon !

I didn't cover the box office last weekend in one of it's most interesting episodes. What's wrong with me? So today in honor of Channing Tatum's third consecutive $35 million plus opening last weekend (expect him to be offered every part for a 25-40 year old man in the next year, even the ones he's totally wrong for) a Magic Mike themed box office countdown to kick off Stripper Week. I'm pretending that the nation's #1 movie featured a musical stripping sequences a la Magic Mike. Just go with it. (File under: Anything to keep the commerce part of movie-going interesting. Cuz that's so notthe interesting part!)

Inappropriate Spider-Man cartoon (I made it*!) 

Box office chart after the jump...

Click to read more ...

Basic Link-stinct

Never Mind Pop Film lists "rules of the cinematic universe" and they're really so true
Tom and Lorenzo Sharon Stone is still a star
The Oregonian theories as to why festival hits do such middling box office 
Empire The Hobbit Parts 1 & 2 have finished filming. 
/ Film How ridiculous is this? A new Aliens related video game won't include any playable female characters? Fans are up in arms. This is after all the franchise that starred Lt. Ellen Ripley and now Dr. Elizabeth Shaw. 

The Film Doctor on Wes Anderson's miniaturized world in Moonrise Kingdom
Handmade this is so cool Moonrise Kingdom Cross Stitch. This movie is aging well in my brain... and heart.
Interiors Film Journal maps out the great elevator scene in Drive
Burbanked on the trailer to Here Comes the Boom. I would only add: why is no one complaining that the plot is like a grotesque parody of Warrior (2011)? 
In Contention Tapley asks a smart question "Could Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes's divorce make The Master this year's zeitgeist movie?" 
Hollywood.com ohmygod. with headlines like this "Could Dark Knight Rises win Best Picture?" all I can say is 'Here we go again. Gird your loins!'

Off Cinema 4 Fun
Abtruse Goose "arithmetic for beginners" 
Twaggies this website illustrates funny tweets. This one has a movie connection sort of 

Today's Must Read
Listen, I know I link to Tom Shone way too much. I have a massive mancritic crush, I freely admit. I just love his writing. His new column for the Guardian "Magic Mike turned me gay!" is great... Like Mr. Shone, I am bisexual at the movie theater so I appreciate the confession. The article even veers towards the difference and sameness of the "male and female gaze," a topic we just happened to be on while discussing Kim Novak in Picnic (1955). 

Box Office: Princess Merida, Bear Hunter

Princess Merida's aim was true, hitting the Pixar bullseye this weekend. $60 million plus means BRAVE can stand proudly with the studio's most successful opening weekends. Some worried that Pixar's first female lead might not prove nearly as big of an immediate draw as cars, toys and boy robots... forgetting that Princesses have never exactly hurt parent co's Disney's box office tallies. Abraham Lincoln's box office aim was messier but then axes can miss their mark and still do bloody damage.

TOP TEN PRIDE WEEKEND
01 BRAVE new $66.7
02 MADAGASCAR 3  $20.2 (cum. $157.5)
03 ABRAHAM LINCOLN, VAMPIRE HUNTER  new $16.5 
04 PROMETHEUS  $10 (cum. $108.5) Oscar Chances?
05 ROCK OF AGES $8 (cum. $28.7) Review
06 SNOW WHITE AND THE HUNTSMAN $8 (cum $137.1) Review 
07 THAT'S MY BOY $7.9  (cum $28.1)
08 THE AVENGERS  $7 (cum $598.3) Review
09 MIB 3 $5.6 (cum. $163.3)
10 SEEKING A FRIEND AT THE END OF THE WORLD  new $3.8 

Talking Points: To Rome With Love was strangely timid about its opening weekend given the renewed Woody Allen love post Midnight in Paris but had a strong per screen average anyway. Had it opened wider it surely would have outperformed Seeking a Friend... which couldn't find an audience; Moonrise Kingdom continues to be a strong performer in limited release just outside the top ten; Two months into its run The Avengers is finally losing screens but should cross the astounding $600 million mark by Tuesday, only the third film in history to do so (when not adjusted for inflation). 

Regarding The Avengers. Given the screen loss it'll be tough to pass Titanic to claim the all time #2 spot -- another $60 million is required. I was just at brunch at Harlem's Red Rooster and a little tiny barely verbal boy at the next table was veritably surrounded by superheroes -- Thor lunch box to the left of him, Spider-Man backpack to the right of him, as he excitedly pointed at an ancient comic book in glass behind him in the restaurant's wall of historic memorabilia. They indoctrinate them young into Marvel Mania. When he's a teenager he'll be buying opening weekend tickets to The Avengers holographic reboot (2025)

What did you see this weekend?

Or is your weekend still raging? If so, Happy Pride!

Current Top Paid Actresses

Forbes ranks the working actresses in order of assumed income for the past year (May to May) and Queen Theron, who has been absent way too long, jumps back in the game with her recent burst of acting and activities. Forbes counted guesstimated residuals, endorsement deals and profit participations and such. The list goes like so. (Dollar figures are in millions)

01 Kristen Stewart $34.5 Twilight finales + Snow White
It'll be interesting to see if she can hold "a top earner" status post Twilight what with Jennifer Lawrence next in line for the absurd franchise riches.
02 Cameron Diaz $34  huge profit sharing on cheaply made Bad Teacher
03 Sandra Bullock $25 ...not sure how she scored this high with only Extremely Loud as a new element but... okay.
04 Angelina Jolie $20
05 Charlize Theron $18 -thanks in large part to Dior, surely
06 Julia Roberts $16
07 Sarah Jessica Parker $15 the latest movie flopped but the perfumes are totally selling
08 Meryl Streep $12
09 Kristen Wiig $12
10 Jennifer Aniston $11 

I'm not greedy at all. Would totally settle for, oh, half of one week's worth of Aniston's income as my annual salary. Too pricey, huh? Okay, okay. I'll take three days worth as annual salary as long as joint custody of Justin Theroux is on the table. Who can arrange this? Please and thanks.

You know what would make a fun list? Yours. Rank your top ten if you ran the world. Which actresses would you gift with the most endorsements and the biggest incomes this past 12 months. Whose name and face and merchandise do you want to see plastered everywhere?