The Film That Dethrones AVATAR is . . . Dear John?

by Ryan

Yea, the Channing Tatum and Amanda Seyfried chick flick turned in a record breaking Super Bowl weekend opening, and did something that Sherlock Holmes, The Book of Eli, and It's Complicated couldn't do. Avatar was dethroned for the first time in seven weeks, making a still respectable $23 million dollars; Dear John made over $32 million dollars according to boxofficemojo. The total box office take for Avatar sits at over $2 billion dollars, larger than the GDP of many third world countries.

When you first hear that Dear John(29% on RottenTomatoes) dethroned Avatar, you might be surprised. A flimsy chick flick takes down the highest grossing film of all time. Even though Avatar has been out for seven weeks now it still seems far fetched. Looking under the hood could show why this was such a success. According to E! online, around 80% of the tickets bought for Dear John were by females and 60% of tickets sales were under 21. Sooo, the twinies floated another film!

It'll be interesting to see what happens next weekend when the normal movie go-ing crowd returns to theaters. Avatar could return to the top, considering most of Dear John's fan base has already seen the film. However, it could stay up top when wives and girlfriends bring their boyfriends back to the theaters for Valentines Day.

I put my stake in Avatar, what do you think? Drop us a comment!

No One Can Beat Avatar . . .

by Ryan

Last week we posted an article asking the question, 'Can Anyone Beat Avatar?' The first two wide release films of 2010 were unable to match Avatar numbers and this past weekend saw two more wide releases. I placed my bets on The Book of Eli as the possible film to dethrone the big blue men and I would have gone into shock if The Spy Next Door came anywhere close to the top of the chart. However, with the long weekend, I didn't think anyone would be able to topple Avatar.

Now that we can look back on the weekend numbers, it looks like my prediction was correct. Avatar stands atop the box office with over $54 million in revenue, beating The Book of Eli by nearly $16 million! With this weekend, the worldwide revenue for Avatar is $1,637,262,209  and the total domestic revenue has hit $504,868,451. Thats just about $29 million less than The Dark Knight's total gross and about $97 million short of the all time grossing film, Titanic.

You might be saying, "So what? There's no way its going to reach $600 million." The beauty about Avatar is not just the money, its how long it has been in theaters. Believe it or not, Avatar has only been in theaters for about 4.5 weeks. It took 33 weeks for The Dark Knight to reach #2 all time and 41 weeks for Titanic to reach #1. At the pace Avatar is moving, it should only take 2 to 3 weeks to reach #1 of all time.

I would consider posing my question again for this weekend, but the prospects don't look good. Films being released this weekend include: Tooth Fairy, Legion, and Extraordinary Measures. Maybe movie goers will turnout this weekend to see The Book of Eli again, the only film that stands a chance, again.

How do you feel about Avatar possibly reaching #1 within the next month?

Review: The Book of Eli

Reviewed by Matt & Ryan


Ryan: 2/4 banana peels
Matt: 2/4 banana peels


We really wanted to give this film 3/4 peels, it was really good, but there were a few flaws that could not be over looked. So, lets begin with the good stuff. The pacing of the first 80 minutes was brilliant, it began slow and built up to what was sure to be a huge climax. The Hughes Brothers conducted the direction of the film with great ease and a cocky nature. Epic visuals of the post-apocalyptic world were stunning and filled out the film nicely. For those who play video games, the world depicted in the film is eerily similar to that of Fall Out 3. Denzel Washington does well as a stoic, Bible-carrying sword-wielding ass kicker, and Mila Kunis has really come a long way as an actress. Gary Oldman plays the villain vying for the mysterious book, and steals the show. He is everything a villain should be, ruthless, arrogant, and fearful, the type of performance that really makes you connect to his adversary. We both actually feared him and agreed that that was the performance the Sherlock Holmes could have really used from Mark Strong.

Now for the bad stuff. The movie runs 118 minutes which is around the average time movies run and doesn't approach the run times of Avatar (162 minutes), There Will Be Blood (158 minutes), or Pulp Fiction (148 minutes). With that, it seemed as though the Hughes Bros. didn't want to eclipse the 120 minute mark, as if that would be the lynch pin in whether or not the film would be a success. The last 30 minutes were rushed and many questions were left wide open or not even acknowledged. The film really could have used an extra 30 minutes to take the same time and patience the rest of the movie received. Those 30 minutes could have sealed the deal and fill out many of the plot lines in what up until the last 40 minutes was an impeccable and meaningful movie. The film tried to discuss many deep and thoughtful issues but wouldn't take the time to actually discuss the issues. This made it seem shallow rather than a vessel for discussion. Really, it was the ending that ruined the movie. Everything about it was bad.

Now, you might be saying "Really, the ending is why your rating it so bad?" Yes, that is! If you had seen the film you would know what we are saying. It draws you in, keeps you on the edge, and then kicks you in the balls. It will engage you, then kill everything. There is a distinct point at which you will know when the movie is about to go downhill. The end is really disappointing, really, really, disappointing. Malcolm McDowell (A Clockwork Orange, Bolt, Caligula), an incredible actor, showed up at the end and never really did anything. I want to call it a cameo and not worry about it, but he's in it too long. It's actually really confusing as to why they would bring in an actor like McDowell and waste his talent. This shows that the Hughes Bros. really had a plan for the ending but realized they were at a point where they HAD to end the film and threw that plan out the window. Why else would they bring in an actor of the caliber of McDowell? The end is really disappointing, really, really, disappointing.

Has anyone else seen The Book of Eli? What were your thoughts about the film overall and, more specifically, the ending?