The earth may have stood still, but audiences generally couldn't be bothered to stay in one place long enough to mess with the latest disaster movie to hit theaters.
The Day The Earth Stood Still make only an estimated $31 million on its opening weekend, and I'd wager a third of that were probably people who just showed up to get a first glimpse of X-Men Origins: Wolverine which ran its first trailer excusively with Earth. At this rate the movie will probably manage to clear its reported $80 million budget, a number I find oddly low. The special effects looked a little weak, but not that weak.
The other two big new release this weekend also hit theaters with resounding thuds. Nothing Like The Holidays, which is one of only two holiday themed movies out this year (the other, Four Christmases, was number one for the last two weekends) only managed pull in $3.5 million to take seventh place.
Delgo, which just looks bad from the posters, opened in a healthy 2,160 theaters but only took less than $1 million. That makes five solid flops for Freestyle releasing which cranked out In the Name of the King: A Dungeon Siege Tale in January ($4.7 million total), Bottle Shock in August ($4.0 million total), The Haunting of Molly Hartley in October ($13.4 million total), and Nobel Son last week ($500,000 so far). If these guys are still in business this time next year it will be a miracle.
