Tag Archives: wreck-it ralph

‘Skyfall’ Blitzes The Box Office With Sizzling Opener And A Bond Record

The 23rd James Bond film lived up to its lofty hopes at the box office, continuing its stellar run Stateside after scoring hundreds of millions overseas including the U.K. where it opened theatrically late last month. The third 007 feature starring Daniel Craig grossed $87.8 million plus $2.2 million from Thursday night IMAX screenings. Skyfall ‘s total pushed the box office’s top 10 to over $159.1 million. Wreck-It Ralph placed second after debuting atop the box office last weekend. Steven Spielberg ‘s anticipated Lincoln , meanwhile opened in limited release at just 11 theaters with a stunning $81,800 per screen average. It should easily be in the upper echelon if not the top grossing film next week when it goes wide. 1. Skyfall Gross: $87.8 million (Cume: $90 million) Screens: 3,505 (PSA: $25,050) Week: 1 Skyfall stole the box office over the weekend with the highest grossing Bond opening in the franchise’s fifty year history. Quantam of Solace opened with $67.5 million which was the previous record. The latest film’s was also double Casino Royale ‘s $40.8 million debut which was the current 007, Daniel Craig’s, first turn as the dashing British operative. In addition to this weekend’s $90 million take, it has grossed $428.6 million worldwide. 2. Wreck-It Ralph Gross: $33,056,000 (Cume: $93,690,000) Screens: 3,752 (PSA: $8,810) Week: 2 (Change: – 32.6%) The pic dropped one spot in its second weekend, remaining in the same number of theaters in its second round. Last weekend it debuted with a $13,070 screen average. With momentum going its way, a $200 million gross is not out of the question. 3. Flight Gross: 15.1 million (Cume: $47,770,299) Screens: 2,047 (PSA: $7,377) Week: 2 (Change: – 39.4%) The film, which debuted at the New York Film Festival last month dropped almost 40% added 163 theaters in its second weekend and remained third in the overall box office chart. Flight ‘s total compares to star Denzel Washington’s $41.9 million total for the 2010 thriller Unstoppable at this point in its release. That film ended up at $81 million. 4. Argo Gross: $6,745,000 (Cume: $85,710,958) Screens: 2,763 (PSA: $2,441) Week: 5 (Change: – 33.9%) The Ben Affleck-directed film held solid in its first month with only incremental declines week to week. This time, it had its most sizable drop. Still, it has held on and in 11 less theaters than last week and it dropped one spot. 5. Taken 2 Gross: $4 million (Cume: $131.2 million) Screens: 2,487 (PSA: $1,608) Week: 6 (Change: – 32.4%) The feature topped the box office in its early October debut, but then skidded heavily in its second weekend. Since then it dropped less severely though its sixth weekend drop at nearly 33% compares to the previous weekend’s 23% decline. Still, the film placed fifth as did last week with 152 less locations. 6. Here Comes the Boom Gross: $2.55 million (Cume: $39,061,095) Screens: 2,044 (PSA: $1,248) Week: 5 (Change: – 27.7%) The pic dropped 270 screens from the previous weekend, though its nearly 28% drop shows the movie is holding solidly going into its second month in release. 7. Cloud Atlas Gross: $2,525,000 (Cume: $22,711,706) Screens: 2,023 (PSA: $1,248) Week: 3 (Change: – 53.1%) The film debuted with a $9.6 million gross, but fell 44% in its second weekend and a much steeper 53% drop in the third. Its reported $100 million production budget will be a huge loss for sources that invested in this ‘independently produced’ feature, which will struggle to top out at $30 million. 8. Pitch Perfect Gross: $2,503,800 (Cume: $59,030,443) Screens: 1,391 (PSA: $1,800) Week: 7 (Change: – 18.3%) The film’s $17 million budget has been more than tripled in the box office. Pitch Perfect dropped only 18.3% after dropping 111 locations from the previous weekend. 9. The Man With The Iron Fists Gross: $2,489,760 (Cume: $12,718,085) Screens: 1,872 (PSA: $1,330) Week: 2 (Change: – 68.5%) Ouch, the title added four locations but dropped a stunning 68.5% and dropped five spots from its opening. Still the pic’s $15 million budget should handily be made up, minus P&A. 10 Hotel Transylvania Gross: $2,350,000 (Cume: $140.9 million) Screens: 2,566 (PSA: $916) Week: 7 (Change: – 46.7%) The animated pic lost 356 theaters vs last weekend. Worldwide, the feature has grossed over $270.4 million. Not bad for an $85 million budget. It has been losing momentum, but it may cross $150 million before all is said and done. [ Sources: Rentrak, Box Office Mojo ]

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‘Skyfall’ Blitzes The Box Office With Sizzling Opener And A Bond Record

‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Smashes The Box Office; ‘Flight’ Soars

Fallout from Hurricane Sandy may have kept some crowds away from theaters over the weekend, but that did not stop Disney animated feature Wreck-It Ralph from packing a wallop at the box office. Box office in the top 12 headed northward to $124.6 million, 20 per cent higher than the previous week. 1. Wreck-It Ralph Gross: $49,038,712 Screens: 3,752 (PSA: $13,070) Week: 1 The Disney animation had a terrific bow, cashing in on great reviews and a solid marketing campaign. The feature also made $12 million internationally, making the title Disney’s top animated pic The $49 million plus domestic total compares to $40.1 million for Chicken Little in 2005. The opening compares to Madagascar 3: Europe’s Most Wanted , which brought in over $60 million when it opened in June. But Ralph helped bring up an overall box office which eclipsed the previous weekend. 2. Flight Gross: $24,900,566 Screens: 1,884 (PSA: $13,217) Week: 1 Flight cruised with strong results in its opening weekend, even edging out the weekend’s number one box office winner, Wreck-It Ralph in terms of per screen average. The results were stronger than expected and shows Denzel Washington, who is tipped to be a force this Awards Season due to his performance, is an audience draw. This is Washington’s fifth best debut. 3. Argo Gross: $10,209,103 (Cume: $75,860,240) Screens: 2,774 (PSA: $3,680) Week: 4 (Change: – 16%) The Ben Affleck-directed feature in which he also stars is continuing to show very solid momentum now one month into its theatrical life. Word-of-mouth is propelling the feature’s box office prowess and it will likely hit the $100 million mark in the next few weeks. 4. The Man With the Iron Fists Gross: $7,910,980 Screens: 1,868 (PSA: $4,235) Week: 1 The gross is in line with what was expected, but it’s still a bit of a downer. It should reach a lucrative overseas market. 5. Taken 2 Gross: $5,919,493 (Cume: $125,586,929) Screens: 2,639 (PSA: $2,243) Week: 5 (Change: – 23%) The film dropped 356 theaters in its fifth weekend, though it actually managed to climb the chart one notch compared to the previous weekend. Its 23% drop is also a sign of momentum and it should top out at $145 million.

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‘Wreck-It Ralph’ Smashes The Box Office; ‘Flight’ Soars

‘Everything Changes − Now!’ Why Wreck-It Ralph May Be The First True Gaming Movie

Everyone is either looking forward to Wreck-It Ralph or still refers to video games as “those beeping boximacallits.”  There are no other options. Gaming movies have a bad reputation, which is weird, because, despite what you may have heard and read, they have yet to materialize. We’ve seen dozens of action movies that share the titles of video games and little else, and run from reprehensible to ridiculously profitable — sometimes in the same series . We’ve also watched feature-length advertisements for video games that we’ve paid to see in hopes that there might be a movie in there somewhere. Case in point: Universal Pictures’ The Wizard. But that may be about to change.  Disney’s Wreck-It Ralph could be the first true gaming movie — the first of a genre that could some day stand alongside war, horror and gangster movie genres. It’s a genre whose time has come. The children being brought to the latest Disney movie have grown up with games, while their parents have watched their kids — and the games — grow from simple noise-making bundles of reflexes to fully interactive 3D characters. I haven’t seen Wreck-It Ralph yet, but I already know one thing that’s smart about it. The movie doesn’t tie itself to a single franchise, but populates its world with characters and cliches from all of them. Imagine Super Smash Bros Brawl without being limited to Nintendo, then give them time off to chill between battles. That’s the level of world we’re looking at here. Wreck-It Ralph puts together a dream team of retro characters from a savvily chosen array of games: Zangief from Street Fighter , Q-Bert, Sonic, Kano and even a Beholder.  If you’re not familiar with that last creature, he exists in video games the same way Captain Kirk exists in video games — he’s certainly been there but comes from a whole other world: Dungeons & Dragons . The Beholder is an extremely cool nod to gamers. Better yet, the characters are all rendered with such love that even the zombie — the most generic enemy in videogaming history — is recognizably from a specific game series. The double-fire-axe and torn beige shirt distinguishes him as a walker from House of the Dead clearer than a passport with his bite-marks on it. Wreck-It Ralph is stuffed with so many celebrity cameos that Chun-Li, also from Street Fighter , as a background character. Other companies have built entire films around her, although considering how that turned out, it’s probably a good thing the producers didn’t follow suit. The cruelest (but most accurate) gaming revelation was the presence of Sonic and Bowser, but no Mario. The writers told TotalFilm.com   that Mario is such a powerful character that there would be no way to put him in the movie without him dominating it. But Sonic? Sure, stick him in there. There was never any doubt about who won the ’90s battle between him and Mario — and his inclusion removes any doubt that the writers really understand the games they’re referencing. Others have bitched about Zangief ‘s presence in the Bad Guys support group when he’s just one of many playable Street Fighters, but come on: he was a Russian in a fighting game in the 90s. He was also almost unplayable in the original, so the only way most people saw him was from the wrong end of a devastating Screw Piledriver. He’s become much cuddlier since, and a surprisingly effective character in Super Street Fighter IV multiplayer. This detailed attention to our old gaming friends is glorious, but could cause a hardcore backlash. The trailers’ focus has obviously been on these recognizable characters, but they’re just as obviously trailer-trash. We’ve probably seen fully half their screen time already. This retro-disappointment is going to be a big complaint for people missing the point, but put it this way: These are Expendables cameos, not Expendables 2 cameos. We can expect these old-school characters to turn up for a few seconds then get out of the way of the main story. Still, for any veteran gamer it’s mind-boggling to see so many different game publishers cooperating. That many intellectual properties overlapping means more legal wrangling than the average nuclear test. That also probably means that none of these characters will actually do anything for most of the movie, but it’s a real coup just to have them along for the ride. Besides, even though, after seeing the trailers, some people are expecting this: The movie has to be about these guys: And that’s a good thing. Because this isn’t a retro movie . It’s a gaming movie. Sonic and the Beholder will get asses in seats, but it’s the original characters, and the, I hope, original story that will make the faces on the other ends of those asses leave with smiles. One of the parody games featured in Wreck-It Ralph ,   Hero’s Duty, fuses Halo , Call of Duty , Battlefield 3 and every other action shooter, while another, Sugar Rush couldn’t be more of a Mario Kart clone if it featured an Italian plumber. The filmmakers can make all the pointed jokes they want about these and other video games without their publishers complaining. (And it’s not like every other gaming company hasn’t made a knock-off of Mario Kart already.) The new characters are well capable of carrying the movie. Ralph is entirely believable as an 1980s game villain (and already has his own game ). Sergeant Calhoun is a tough female soldier who kicks ass and actually wears sensible body-covering clothing, meaning Wreck-It Ralph is better at character creation than most modern video games. Wreck-It Ralph is important because games aren’t a niche market anymore. They’re everywhere and everyone, from casual  Angry Birds  players to 80th level World of Warcraft  Paladins.  It looks like the movie industry is finally ready to take video games seriously. And by that, I mean, have some real fun with them. Luke McKinney loves the real world, but only because it has movies and video games in it. He responds to every tweet . Follow Luke McKinney on Twitter.  Follow Movieline on Twitter. 

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‘Everything Changes − Now!’ Why Wreck-It Ralph May Be The First True Gaming Movie

Wreck-It Ralph Teaser Poster: 8-Bit Baddie Goes Good

Video games have inspired many a movie in the post-Atari age, but Disney’s CG-animated November adventure Wreck-It Ralph puts a spin on things: It follows an 8-bit villain named Wreck-It Ralph (voiced by John C. Reilly) who escapes the confines of his video game and journeys through the arcade to prove he’s got what it takes to be a hero. As such, the early art work has been retro-tastic, and this week’s new teaser poster is no different. Take a gander and get ready to explain to the iPhone-toting, Tweet-happy kiddies what “8-bit” means. The synopsis: Walt Disney Animation Studios and Emmy®-winning director Rich Moore (TV’s “The Simpsons,” “Futurama”) take moviegoers on a hilarious, arcade-game-hopping journey in “Wreck-It Ralph.” Ralph (voice of John C. Reilly, “Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby,” “Step Brothers”) is tired of being overshadowed by Fix-It Felix (voice of Jack McBrayer, “30 Rock”), the “good guy” star of their game who always gets to save the day. But after decades doing the same thing andseeing all the glory go to Felix, Ralph decides he’s tired of playing the role of a bad guy. He takes matters into his own massive hands and sets off on a game-hopping journey across the arcade through every generation of video games to prove he’s got what it takes to be a hero. On his quest, he meets the tough-as-nails Sergeant Calhoun (voice of Jane Lynch, TV’s “Glee”) from the first-person action game Hero’s Duty. But it’s the feisty misfit Vanellope von Schweetz (voice of Sarah Silverman, “The Sarah Silverman Program”) from the candy-coated cart racing game, Sugar Rush, whose world is threatened when Ralph accidentally unleashes a deadly enemy that threatens the entire arcade. Will Ralph realize his dream and save the day before it’s too late? Wreck-It Ralph hits theaters on November 2. Follow Jen Yamato on Twitter . Follow Movieline on Twitter .

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Wreck-It Ralph Teaser Poster: 8-Bit Baddie Goes Good