"Bourne Ultimatum" Rocks Box Office

Critically-acclaimed finale of the Matt Damon-fronted Bourne trilogy scored big bucks at the North American box office this weekend topping the previous two installments. Bourne 1, 2 and 3 earned $27, $53 and $70 million in their respective opening weekends.

When leaving movie theaters the vast majority of the audience said the movie was excellent. The film did well with both men (52%) and women (48%) who cited action and Matt Damon as main reasons to see the movie. Although the movie cost $110 million to produce, the studio should have no problem making the profit.

The Simpsons Movie continues to dominate the box office across the world. The animated movie cost $75 million to produce, and it has already earned $236 million across the world, but the figure is expected to hit $280 million by Sunday evening. Needless to say this is a major success for FOX.

Saturday Night Live's Andy Samberg is no Adam Sandler - his poorly reviewed comedy Hot Rod flopped along with the tweener pic Bratz that ended up at the bottom of the chart. J.Lo and Marc Anthony's limited released El Catante earned only $2.9 million and ended up out of the top-10.

Here's the rest of the box office:

1. The Bourne Ultimatum $70 million
2. The Simpsons Movie $25.6 million
3. Underdog $12 million
4. I Now Pronounce You Chuck & Larry $10.5 million
5. Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix $9.4 million
6. Hairspray $9.1 million
7. No Reservations $6.4 million
8. Transformers $5.9 million
9. Hot Rod $5 million
10. Bratz $4.5 million

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Harry Potter Shatters Box Office

Boy wonder has shattered box office records across the globe. The fifth installment in the "Harry Potter" series earned a reported $330 million in only 5 days (!) prompting Warner Bros to brand the movie the highest grossing of the franchise of all time.

Have the moviegoers been hungry for a new Potter adventure or are those aged and sexed-up teenagers better at luring mass audiences into movie theaters? Whatever the case, Harry Potter 5 is a smash of gigantic proportions. Ironically, diluted by Wednesday and Thursday its weekend gross was the lowest of all previous movies.

Meanwhile, with the current lifetime gross at $223 million "Transformers" has now become the highest grossing robot-themed movie of all time surpassing Terminator: The Judgment Day.

Katherine Heigl's comedy "Knocked Up" has now earned more than $141 million in the US alone. The movie cost only $30 million to produce and is one of this year's biggest success stories.

Meanwhile, "Live Free or Die Hard" is on a good way to become the highest grossing Die Hard movie of all time. Its current cume is $102 million. Die Hard 2 has thus far been the most successful with $117 million. The movie however cost $110 million to produce, so it will have to earn double that amount to become profitable (its current worldwide gross is $194 million).

Now here's what the rest of the weekend domestic box office cume looks like:

1. "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix," $77.4 million.

2. "Transformers," $36 million.

3. "Ratatouille," $18 million.

4. "Live Free or Die Hard," $10.9 million.

5. "License to Wed," $7.4 million.

6. "1408," $5.01 million.

7. "Evan Almighty," $5 million.

8. "Knocked Up," $3.7 million.

9. "Sicko," $2.65 million.

10. "Ocean's Thirteen," $1.9 million.

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"Harry Potter" Opens BIG

"Harry Potter And The Order Of The Phoenix" just opened in 2,311 theaters at midnight last night and it has already broken a record set by "The Lord Of The Rings: The Return Of The King" by accumulating over $12 million for a Wednesday opening.

The movie has also had the biggest opening of all Potter movies in a number of foreign markets, including France, Korea, New Zealand, Hong Kong, Philippines and Malaysia. "Phoenix" will be the largest global release of any "Potter" movies to date.

Execs at Warner Brothers expect the movie to earn over $100 million over the 5-day run, but industry analysts believe it will go on to earn as much as $125 million. Today the movie is playing on a whopping 4,285 screens across the US. Potter is back bigger than ever!

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Box Office: "Transformers" Rocket to the Top

Sci-fi saga "Transformers" ruled the box office in North America this weekend.

There is something irresistible about seeing a jet plane flying under a bridge then flipping and turning into a robot. Those kind of images lured audiences into movie theaters this weekend giving "Transformers" a $67 million opening weekend.

The movie has already earned $152 million since the first preview on Monday making it possibly the biggest opening ever. "Ratatouille" dropped to the 2nd place with $109 million in 10 days, and "Die Hard" was third with 84 million, also in 10 days.

Meanwhile, director Michael Moore's latest effort "Sicko" pulled in another $3,65 million and it is on a good way to enter the "Top 5 Documentaries of All Time". Moore already has 2 movies in the top 5, including the absolute winner "Fahrenheit 9/11."

"LOST" creator JJ Abrams' secret new movie about the destruction of New York told in a "Blair Witch Project" style was shown in movie theaters before "Transformers." The movie which is set to premiere in January generated a lot of buzz, but YouTube has taken down all copies of the trailer posted by the users.

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Evan Almighty, Evan Disaster

Easily the worst picture of the year, the sloppy Bible-thumping sequel to Jim Carrey's 2003 blockbuster "Bruce Almighty," which may easily be the most expensive comedy Hollywood has ever produced, is not only despised by movie critics, but - given its overinflated budget - it is also a box office disaster of biblical proportions. What went wrong?

When Universal greenlighted this Christian fundamentalist project (which is, among others, shockingly produced by Tom Hanks) it was given the budget of $150 million. The original 2003 comedy was made for only $80 million, and that movie starred Jim Carrey and "Friends" rising star Jennifer Aniston, along with Steve Carell and Morgan Freeman. The latter two return, but the movie's principal star power is gone.

How come the film was so expensive then? Despite Steve Carell's success with NBC's "Office" he surely can't come with such a stiff price tag, can he? Actually, it gets worse. Mix in some bad weather, animals that won't listen and children with limited working hours, and the movie's cost skyrocketed to $210 million (the studio still claims the final cost was only $175 million).


After the studio became nervous, out went the jokes, in went the religious propaganda with a "heartwarming" (meaning patronizing) environmentalist message. The studio's desperate attempt to lure religious audiences from America's heartland however was a miscalculated one - the parents remembered the original 2003 movie for its mature content, and many expressed reluctance to take their children to see the new movie. Objecting to the movie's inane plot, almost 80% of movie critics at "Rotten Tomatoes" expressed negative view of the movie.

According to LA Weekly, at a recent marketing meeting, the film's director Tom Shadyac suffered a complete meltdown - unhappy with Universal's marketing of the movie, especially its lack of TV advertising, he began shouting at studio execs. "He acted like a complete asshole," said an anonymous contributor to the LA Weekly blog story. The studio remained firm - given the movie's out-of-control budget they would not spend any more money marketing it.

Universal has, according to reports, spent additional $50 million marketing the movie, although the director believes that figure should have gone up to $80 million. With its current cost set at $260 million, the film would have to exceed the original Jim Carrey movie and make over $500 million to become profitable. But can Steve Carell lure that kind of audience?

According to first Friday's estimates, the movie has earned $11 million. That means it is not expected to make more than $30-35 million this weekend. That is way below the opening weekend for "Bruce Almighty" which pulled in over $68 million for its opening weekend, and it is also way below the studio expectations of $40-50 million. And with international audiences being even less familiar with Steve Carrel, expect "Evan Almighty" to be the box office disaster Hollywood will remember for a very long time.

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Box Office: "Silver Surfer" Rises Above Original "Fantastic Four"

The weekend box office estimates are in and it appears that the sequel to the 2005 Fox blockbuster "Fantastic Four" entitled "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer" has managed to beat the original in the opening weekend domestic ticket sales.

When "Fantastic Four" opened in July 2005, it managed to gross $56 million. "Silver Surfer" however may, according to early estimates, pocket $57,4 million. The original went on to earn $154 million or $330 million worldwide.

Elsewhere, "Ocean's 13" added $19,1 million for a 10-day total of $69 million, while Katherine Heigl's "Knocked Up"remains at #3 with $14,5 million, or a 17-day total of $90 million. The film cost only $30 million to make and it keeps earning money.


"Pirates of the Carribean" added $12 million for a 24-day total of $273 million. Globally, the film has exceeded expectations earning a whopping $820 million so far. Last year's "The Curse of the Black Pearl" earned "only" $650 million. The original 2003 movie however earned well over $1 billion. Can "At World's End" match that?


Finally, "Shrek the Third" is expected to add $9 million for a 31-day total of $297 million. The original "Shrek" in 2001 earned "only" $267 million, but the 2004 sequel "Shrek 2" appears to be the most successful with $441 million in US sales. "Shrek the Third" was the most expensive to make ($160 million). Will it exceed "Shrek 2" ($920 million) in global sales?

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Box Office: "Knocked Up" Opens Solid

A lot of people wanted to get knocked up this weekend as the new Katherine Heigl comedy opened in a solid second place at the box office generating almost $30 million and exceeding studio expectations.

That means the movie has already earned it production budget and "Grey's Anatomy" star Heigl is now one of the few small screen stars with box office appeal. The actress is about to start shooting her next movie "27 Dresses" co-starring James Marsden.

Elsewhere, "Pirates of the Carribean: At World's End" dipped over 60% to earn $43,2 million in its second weekend, still earning a strong #1 on the chart.

Globally, the movie has already earned $625 million and is on the right track to exceed the $654 million that scored the second outing "The Black Pearl" last summer.

The original movie from 2003 ("Dead Man's Chest") however remains the #1 with over $1 billion in worldwide sales.

"Shrek: The Third" remains a force to be reckoned with, generating $26,7 million or 254,6 million in domestic sales thus far, surpassing the original 2001 movie.

"Shrek The Third" has yet to be released in many international territories.

Here is the full top-5:

1. "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," $43.2 million.
2. "Knocked Up," $29.3 million.
3. "Shrek the Third," $26.7 million.
4. "Mr. Brooks," $10 million.
5. "Spider-Man 3," $7.5 million.
6. "Waitress," $2 million.
7. "Gracie," $1.4 million.
8. "Bug," $1.22 million.
9. "28 Weeks Later," $1.2 million.
10. "Disturbia," $1.1 million.

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