Should it be any surprise that "I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry" was the biggest-grossing movie of the weekend, with a $35 million that beat out "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" ($32 million its second weekend out) and "Hairspray" (28 million)? Not really. The combined Q score for Adam Sandler and Kevin James renders the movie a genuine mass-appeal prospect. More to the point, all the Harry Potter maniacs A) had already seen "Phoenix" -- twice -- and B) spent Friday camped out in front of a bookstore (probably in Harvard Square, from the mob reports I've heard) and the weekend with their noses glued to "Deathly Hallows." So they were down for the count.
And "Hairspray"? Don't cry for it, America. Largest opening ever for a musical, even accounting for ticket inflation (although, as Box Office Mojo points out, studios routinely open their films in many more theaters than in decades past). Rave reviews helped convince multiplex audiences to get past their fears of musicals, although some folks apparently have deeper issues. My Idiot Email of the Week was this one:
"Are you gay, Ty? Is there a musical you didn't LOOOOOOOOOOOVVVVVVVVVVVVE? Give a good review to an action flick and prove your manhood. Otherwise, you can pick up your fairy wings on the corner of Boylston and Tremont with the rest of the freaks."
To which I say: Grow some stones, chump, and enjoy song-and-dance like the rest of us. Gene Kelly was a bigger jock than you or I will ever be.
In limited release, Danny Boyle's sci-fi stunner "Sunshine" played in only 10 theaters but picked up a massive $23,500 per theater.
More box office numbers at Box Office Mojo and via Leonard Klady.
