Chuck Levine and Larry Valentine are the pride of their fire station: two guy\’s guys always side-by-side and willing to do anything for each other. Grateful Chuck owes Larry for saving his life in a fire, and Larry calls in that favor big time when civic red tape prevents him from naming his own two kids as his life insurance beneficiaries. But when an overzealous, spot-checking bureaucrat becomes suspicious, the new couple\’s arrangement becomes a citywide issue and goes from confidential to front-page news. Forced to improvise as love-struck newlyweds, Chuck and Larry must now fumble through a hilarious charade of domestic bliss under one roof. After surviving their mandatory honeymoon and dodging the threat of exposure, the well-intentioned con men discover that sticking together in your time of need is what truly makes a family.
Archive for the ‘Box Office History’ Category
1. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry – $34.2M
Thursday, July 26th, 20072. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix – $32.5M
Thursday, July 26th, 2007IN THEATERS JULY 11, 2007<br><br>In the silver-screen adaptation of J.K. Rowling\’s HARRY POTTER AND THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX, the fifth chapter in the beloved book series, everyone\’s favorite wizard-in-training (Daniel Radcliffe) finds himself in increasingly perilous situations. Not only is Harry in trouble with the Ministry of Magic for using his abilities outside of school, his trusted mentor, Professor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon), has grown distant, and an icy new Defense Against the Dark Arts teacher, Dolores Umbridge (Imelda Staunton), has arrived to bring a frightening level of discipline to Hogwarts. And waiting in the shadows is the demonic Lord Voldemort (Ralph Fiennes), an ominous figure whose very existence is questioned by the powerful Ministry, leaving Harry and his friends–most notably Ron (Rupert Grint) and Hermione (Emma Watson)–to form a rebel group, Dumbledore\’s Army.<br><br>Helmed by little-known British director David Yates and written by Michael Goldenberg (the first scribe to fill the boots of Steve Kloves), THE ORDER OF THE PHOENIX continues the darker tone of the two preceding POTTER installments and deftly follows Harry, Ron, and Hermione as they face new foes and impending adulthood. While Radcliffe, Grint, and Watson all continue to imbue their characters with vitality and complexity, Staunton steals the show as the strict, merciless Umbridge, though the story, which lacks some of the special-effects-heavy set pieces of past chapters, happily leaves room for other actors to shine, most notably Alan Rickman (as the ever-enigmatic Severus Snape), Gary Oldman (Sirius Black), David Thewlis (Remus Lupin), and Helena Bonham Carter (Bellatrix Lestrange). Another fine offering of POTTER movie magic, PHOENIX may not astound quite the way that THE PRISONER OF AZKABAN did, but it easily stands as one of the best films in the series.
3. Hairspray (2007) – $27.5M
Thursday, July 26th, 2007IN THEATRES JULY 20, 2007<br><br>After finding success on Broadway, the hilarious John Waters 1988 classic comes to the big screen once again with this Adam Shankman remake featuring an star-studded cast led by newcomer Nicole Bronsky in the part originally played by Ricki Lake.
4. Transformers – $20.5M
Saturday, July 14th, 2007The Earth is caught in the middle of an intergalactic war between two races of robots, the heroic Autobots and the evil Decepticons, which are able to change into a variety of objects, including cars, trucks, planes and other technological creations.
7. License to Wed – $3.6M
Saturday, July 14th, 2007IN THEATRES JULY 3, 2007<br><br>An all-star cast inhabits this romantic comedy about a couple who must endure a humiliating obstacle course of a marriage-training program in order to gain permission to wed from their church\’s over-the-top reverend (Robin Williams). Hilarity follows as the lovebirds (Mandy Moore and THE OFFICE?S John Krasinksi) put their devotion to the test. From the moment they met in a Starbucks line, the couple was prone to cute mishaps and clumsiness, but they also displayed amazing chemistry. Then Reverend Frank and his creepy child assistant intervene, putting Sadie and Ben through a torturous process which involves couples counseling, bedroom surveillance, and a very funny sequence in which the couple must take care of two robotic fake babies while shopping for their registry at Macy?s.<br><br>While Krasinski?s average-guy expressions are fun to watch, his persona on the big screen isn?t too much of a stretch from his role in the television sitcom. And Moore?s typical likability becomes irritatingly upbeat in several scenes. Packed with OFFICE cameos, LICENSE TO WED promises laughs up until the end, where it veers towards the trappings of an archetypal romantic comedy.
5. Ratatouille – $10.9M
Saturday, July 7th, 2007A rat named Remy dreams of becoming a great French chef despite his family\’s wishes and the obvious problem of being a rat in a decidedly rodent-phobic profession. When fate places Remy in the sewers of Paris, he finds himself ideally situated beneath a restaurant made famous by his culinary hero, Auguste Gusteau. Despite the apparent dangers of being an unlikely – and certainly unwanted – visitor in the kitchen of a fine French restaurant, Remy\’s passion for cooking soon sets into motion a hilarious and exciting rat race that turns the culinary world of Paris upside down.
6. Live Free or Die Hard – $7.1M
Saturday, July 7th, 2007On the July 4th holiday, an attack on the vulnerable United States infrastructure begins to shut down the entire nation. The mysterious figure behind the scheme has figured out every modern angle — but he never figured on an old-school “analog” fly in the “digital” ointment: John McClane. No mask. No cape. No problem.
9. Sicko – $3.6M
Saturday, July 7th, 2007IN THEATRES JUNE 22, 2007 (Limited)<br><br>America\’s most incendiary filmmaker, Michael Moore, returned in 2007 with this health-care-industry exposé. SICKO tackles material as controversial as the topics explored in Moore\’s other films, yet does so in a way that places the focus on ordinary Americans affected by the nation\’s health-care crisis. After providing some historical background on how our nation\’s medical care system became so ravaged and unfair, Moore interviews a series of individuals and families who have had their lives all but destroyed by the denial of care in the service of profit. While there are two sides to the gun-control debate and even a legitimate discourse for how to best wage the war on terror, it\’s simply impossible to justify how a baby girl can wind up dead because her mother\’s health insurance wasn\’t accepted at a nearby hospital. Moore smartly allows this and other stories to be told with little or no interference, conjuring strong feelings of empathy, rage, and deep sadness. <br><br>Of course, SICKO isn\’t a PBS documentary, it\’s a Michael Moore movie, and his fingerprints are all over it. Moore visits countries that have universal health care–spectacularly so when he takes several World Trade Center workers to Guantanamo Bay (and then to Cuba) to receive health care that they were denied in the United States–and presents a compelling argument for adopting a similar system in the States. Moore\’s ultimate purpose here is to compel Americans to care for one another, and it\’s a simple request that shockingly must be made via a major motion picture, making SICKO essential viewing.
10. Evening – $3.5M
Saturday, July 7th, 2007IN THEATRES JUNE 29, 2007<br><br>Michael Cunningham (author of THE HOURS) lends his screenwriting skills to Lajos Koltai\’s EVENING. This time, Cunningham adapts a book by Susan Minot for the big screen. Vanessa Redgrave plays Ann Grant, who in her last hours retells the highlights of her life to an audience made up of her daughters, with Claire Danes playing a younger version of the protagonist.
9. Evan Almighty – $2.6M
Monday, June 25th, 2007Set in modern day, an unmarried man is approached by God to build an ark to save the world from a second flood.