The American Medical Association Alliance is a lobbying group made up of physicians’ spouses that does helpful things like raising money for cancer research and treating the disabled. Ha, just kidding, they’re trying to ban depictions of smoking in movies.
“Research has shown that one-third to one-half of all young smokers in the United States can be attributed to smoking these youth see in movies,” said Dr. Jonathan Fielding, head of the Los Angeles County Public Health Department. Fielding cited another study that he said “found that adolescents whose favorite movie stars smoked on screen are significantly more likely to be smokers themselves and to have a more accepting attitude toward smoking.”
My own research has shown that fans of Fast and Furious are 85% more like to have a favorable attitude towards cars. Therefore, if we ban Fast and Furious, we can rid the world of almost all cars.
American Medical Association Alliance President Sandi Frost used as her chief example of a movie with “gratuitous smoking” this month’s blockbuster “X-Men Origins: Wolverine,” which was rated PG-13. “Millions of children have been exposed to the main star of the film, Hugh Jackman, with a cigar in his mouth in various scenes,” Frost said. “I’m willing to bet that not one child would have enjoyed that movie or Mr. Jackman’s performance any less if he hadn’t been smoking.”
“I know this movie is about Indians, but do they really need to carry tomahawks? Those can be dangerous. It wouldn’t hurt the movie at all if they were playing badminton instead.” Oh well, at least no one’s dumb enough to pay attention to these idiots, right???
Night at the Museum 2 mopped the floor with Terminator Salvation, grossing $70 million to Terminator’s $53.8 over the course of the extended weekend. Salvation’s attendance was actually lower than the last two Terminators, and its numbers were down from Friday to Saturday, “a rarity that could signal disappointing word of mouth.” Such a shame, it just doesn’t seem fair that the quality of the product should affect its revenue.
Elsewhere, Star Trek overtook Wolverine in domestic revenue, just like I said it would ($191 million to $165.4, respectively), while Angels & Demons made decent money but was down from Da Vinci Code, earning $87.8 million in the time it took Da Vinci to earn $144.9.
And finally, inexplicably, Dance Flick earned $13.1 million. I know it doesn’t sound like a lot, but writing, shooting, and editing couldn’t have taken longer than an afternoon. And I’m sure you think I’m exaggerating, but keep in mind, Keenan Wayans literally let his nephew direct. (top 10 after the jump)
(Hanks visits the place where they burned his old forehead)
As expected, Angels & Demons won the box office over the weekend, though its $48 million take was slightly below studio expectations, and well below the $77.1 million debut of The Da Vinci Code. All in all it did okay, was mediocre not great, and will probably be forgotten by next weekend. It’s basically the Olive Garden of movie franchises. Elsewhere, Star Trek was only down 46% off its opening weekend - a small drop, especially when you consider Wolverine was down 68% in its second weekend. Trek’s total take now stands at $147.6 million to Wolverine’s $151.1 (and closing fast, I imagine).
The weekend boasted only two other high profile pics, both in limited release. Jennifer Aniston’s “Management” got a pink slip from moviegoers, grossing just $378,420 from 212 screens for a measly per-screen average of $1,785. Meanwhile, the caper comedy “The Brothers Bloom” was a bright spot on the specialty side, ringing up $82,000 from four theaters for a $20,500 per-theater haul. [CNN]
Now all that’s left to figure out is who the hell keeps seeing Ghosts of Girlfriends Past.
As predicted, Star Trek debuted in the number one spot this weekend, grossing $72.5 (just $7.5 mil off my prediction). It was enough for the second-highest debut of 2009, behind Wolverine’s $85.1 million take last weekend. Wolverine, meanwhile, landed in number two with $27 million, a 68% decline from its first weekend. Matthew McConaughey’s Ghost of Girlfriends Past was number three with $10.5 million, and if you saw that movie, let’s never hang out.
The good news is that this week, the weekend number one actually deserved its success. I saw Star Trek over the weekend, and it’s probably the best summer movie I’ve seen since Jurassic Park. Actually, it’s probably better than Jurassic Park. It’s tracking 94% on RottenTomatoes, and I imagine it will eventually overtake Wolverine on the strength of people seeing it two and three times. Though admittedly, stupid people are hard to predict. Or as I like to call it, the Paul Blart effect. Unrelated but also important, I think Wolverine and Spock would make a great gay couple. Wolverine could be freaking out: “GAAAAARRGGGHHH! THE THROW PILLOWS DON’T MATCH THE DUVET!!” and then Spock would be all, “Come on, sweetie, let’s be logical about this..” They’re opposites, but Wolverine can’t get enough of the Vulcan death grip.
