Clint Eastwood and his new movie ‘Gran Torino’ won the weekend box office race. Read the rest of the story, see the Top 10, and check out photos and video from the top movies below.
Clint Eastwood is this weekend’s big winner with his new movie ‘Gran Torino’, which he both directed and starred in. The $29 million that the film roped in marks the biggest opening in Clint Eastwood’s long career. His previous best was $18 million with Space Cowboys back in 2000. ‘Gran Torino’ was in limited release in December 2008, and had already made around $11 million prior to this weekend’s wide release opening, which brings its total so far up to $40.5 million.
Other December releases continue to chug along. ‘Marley and Me’ was knocked off by ‘Gran Torino’, Anne Hathaway and Kate Hudson’s new romantic comedy ‘Bride Wars’, and new horror movie ‘The Unborn’. Despite the fall to 4th place, the movie still had a decent showing and is pushing the $125 million mark. ‘The Curious Case of Benjamin Button’, ‘Yes Man’, and ‘Bedtime Stories’ continue to move towards that coveted $100 million mark. Will Smith’s ‘Seven Pounds’ continues to look like a disappointment, as it fell to 10th place and still has yet to reach $67 million after three weeks in theaters.
‘Not Easily Broken’, the other new release for the weekend, came in at 9th place with $5.6 million. Pretty impressive, considering the film, which is based on a book by T.D. Jakes, was released in about a third as many theaters as the rest of the top 10, and only cost about $5 million to produce.
The Weekend Box Office Top 10 for January 9-11, 2009:
1. Gran Torino - $29 million, $40.5 million total
2. Bride Wars - $21.5 million (new)
3. The Unborn - $21.1 million (new)
4. Marley and Me - $11.4 million, $123.7 million total
5. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button - $9.5 million, $94.3 million total
6. Bedtime Stories - $8.6 million, $97.2 million total
7. Valkyrie - $6.7 million, $71.5 million total
8. Yes Man - $6.2 million, $89.4 million total
9. Not Easily Broken - $5.6 million (new)
10. Seven Pounds - $3.9 million, $66.8 million total
More photos and a video of the top five movies are below.
Photos: wenn.com