Axiom's Edge Science Fiction and Fantasy

After a record-breaking run of seven weeks when Avatar surpassed Titanic as the highest grossing film domestically and worldwide, James Cameron’s sci fi epic finally ceded the top spot at the Box Office to another movie. The romantic drama Dear John pushed Avatar out this week which slipped one notch to Number 2 and earned “only” $23.6 million bringing its domestic total to over $630 million. We actually expected Avatar to get the boot from the Number 1 slot this weekend, but figured that John Travolta’s action flick From Paris with Love would take top honors. That movie only managed to scrape its way to the Number 3 slot, though, with an underwhelming tally of $8 million.  You can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.

Gizmodo’s Rosa Golijan has seen Panelfly’s comic book reader app for Apple’s new iPad tablet computer and believes this will change the way we read comics. The app would be a free download for the iPad and then the user could add comics to the library via in-app purchases. This app is developed specifically for the iPad and is based on the one that Panelfly created for the iPhone. Golijan was impressed with how comics looked with this app and provided some sample images in the article. The comic book industry in general has been in decline and previous attempts at eComics have failed to jump-start sales. Fans may find comics on the larger, more reader-friendly iPad more appealing, though, with this and other eReading devices possibly changing the direction of that industry.

Also, following are some highlights of Science Fiction and Fantasy related stories from our reddit.com page The Sci Fi Scroll (sign up and submit your own stories):

Neil Gaiman Confirms That He’s Written An Upcoming Episode Of Doctor Who
io9.com 2/6/2010
At last addressing the long-bubbling rumor that he would be writing for Doctor Who, award-winning author Neil Gaiman has confirmed that he’s penned an episode for the second season with new Doctor Matt Smith. (Read the Full Article)

Uh-oh—FlashForward loses another show runner
Sci Fi Wire 2/5/2010
You don’t have to have a FlashForward to know this can’t be good news, but the ABC series is facing yet another new show runner in its future. Co-creator and executive producer David Goyer is exiting as show runner of the sci-fi thriller just months after he took over for former show runner Mark Guggenheim. (Read the Full Article)

More Watchmen on the Way
Sci Fi Mafia 2/4/2010
DC’s senior vice president Dan Didio has made an expanded Watchmen universe his very own pet project, and is looking at a new series of comic prequels, sequels and spin-offs, and, possibly more films. (Read the Full Article)

Do You Need To Be A Trekkie To Understand The LOST S6 Premiere? (maybe not, but it will help)
trekmovie.com 2/3/2010
Last night was the highly-anticipated premiere of the sixth and final season of Lost, with the two part episode “LA X”. As usual with the show, it was very mysterious and at times possibly even confusing. But any fan of Star Trek might have had an advantage in trying to figure it all out. (Read the Full Article)

How Reaper would have ended, straight from the creators
Clique Clack 2/3/2010
So, how forthcoming were Michele and Tara in spilling how Reaper would have continued? Very. In fact, the only reason they hadn’t told the world of how things would have gone down on the show was simple: nobody ever asked. (Read the Full Article)

Transformers, Land of the Lost lead Razzies
Hollywood Reporter 2/1/2010
Transformers: Revenge of the Fallen made a fortune. Land of the Lost tanked.  Both films are equal earners at the Razzies, though, grabbing seven nominations each (Read the Full Article)

NBC’s withering super-hero series Heroes may be on its last legs (depending on who you believe), but the peacock network is not done with super-hero stories just yet. They have greenlighted a pilot titles The Cape about a former L.A. cop who dons super-hero tights and takes up the identity of “The Cape” in order to clear his name from an attempt to frame him. The series comes from Empire creator Tom Wheeler and will have former Joss Whedon collaborator Gail Berman onboard as producer. We will find out this May whether the pilot will get picked up for series for the coming season (and whether Heroes will remain around to accompany it).

With minimal competition from new and recent releases, Avatar held onto the Number 1 spot at the Box Office for a seventh week in a row. The movie added approximately another $30 million to its tally domestically and should overtake the Titanic this week as the highest grossing movie of all time in the United States (it already has set that record worldwide). Genre entries from the past couple of weeks like Legion, Book of Eli, and The Tooth Fairy have all faded fast and provided little competition to James Cameron’s juggernaut over the week. This coming weekend, the action/thriller movie From Paris With Love, starring John Travolta, just may have a chance at finally unseating Avatar from its throne. If that one misfires, then Percy Jackson & the Olympians and the The Wolfman will give it a go on Valentine’s weekend.  ou can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.

Also, following are some highlights of Science Fiction and Fantasy related stories from our reddit.com page The Sci Fi Scroll (sign up and submit your own stories):

Questor Revamp Will Be As Robotic As The Original, Says Roddenberry’s Son
i09.com 1/31/2010
Buffy and Angel veteran Tim Minear may be in talks to head a revival of Gene Roddenberry’s The Questor Tapes, but don’t expect it to be a Whedonesque re-do, according to the man responsible for the property, Rod Roddenberry. (Read the Full Article)

Trek’s Quinto calms fears that he’s leaving the franchise
Sci Fi Wire 1/28/2010
Star Trek’s Zachary Quinto is clarifying remarks he made to Wired that he was taking a break from the franchise for two years. (Read the Full Article)

12 Secrets To Being A Super-Prolific Short-Story Writer
io9.com 1/27/2010
For many aspiring science-fiction authors, the first frontier of publication is short fiction. A few stories published in the right markets can launch your career. But it helps if you’re prolific. Here are 12 tips on writing more stories faster. (Read the Full Article)

Grunberg blames NBC for Heroes drop
Digital Spy 1/26/2010
Greg Grunberg has blamed NBC for the recent drop in ratings for Heroes.  Since the series launched in 2006, it has achieved figures as high as 16.97m. However, the latest episode pulled in just 3.93m viewers, representing a new low for the show. (Read the Full Article)

Avatar breaks Titanic worldwide record
Hollywood Reporter 1/25/2010
“Avatar” is the winner and new worldwide boxoffice champion.  After six rounds on the foreign circuit, “Avatar” is now the biggest-grossing film of all time. (Read the Full Article)

Planet of the Apes Reboot Of The Reboot Still In The Works
Sci Fi Mafia 1/25/2010
Back in 2001, Tim Burton rebooted Planet of the Apes and now it seems that the reboot of the reboot may be moving forward. (Read the Full Article)

Way back in 1974, a movie showed up on NBC called The Questor Tapes about a superhuman android that had lapses in his memory and who was searching for his creator to regain those lost memories and to understand his purpose. The movie starred Robert Foxworth as the android Questor and a pre-M*A*S*H Mike Farrell as his human companion, and it was created by Gene Roddenberry (with an assist from Gene L. Coon) as a pilot for a potential series. NBC passed on the series (even though they originally greenlit it ans several scripts were completed) partially because they could not agree with Roddenberry on the direction of the show and partially because they want to drop Mike Farrell’s character. But now the concept may get a second chance. Brian Grazer and Ron Howard’s Imagine Television will partner with Roddenberry’s son, Eugene Roddenberry Jr., and Roddenberry Productions to bring the idea back to television as a series. And frequent Joss Whedon collaborator Tim Minear (Angel, Firefly, Dollouse) has been tagged as producer. There is no word at this point on whether they are in talks with any particular broadcast network or cable channel to pick up the series or when production will begin on the project. The Questor Tapes was the third of for failed pilots from Gene Roddenberry that aired during the 70’s; the other three were Genesis II, Planet Earth, and Spectre. We will look at all four of these in more detail here at Axiom’s Edge in the coming weeks.

Avatar’s Box Office receipts are declining (it “only” made around $36 million this past weekend), but it still has a lock on the Number 1 slot for a sixth week in a row. The post-apocalyptic Legion could not unseat the James Cameron movie from its throne, though that one did manage to grab the Number 2 slot (the most movies can hope for these days it seems) and pull in a respectable $18+ million in receipts despite its poor critical reception. Dwayne Johnson’s turn as The Tooth Fairy was not quite so lucky as that movie (also poorly received by critics) only managed to climb to the Number 4 slot in its opening weekend with a draw of around $14.5 million. Avatar is expected to pass The Titanic today as the highest grossing movie of all time if it keeps up its momentum from the weekend which should be a no-brainer.  You can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.

Also, following are some highlights of Science Fiction and Fantasy related stories from our reddit.com page The Sci Fi Scroll (sign up and submit your own stories):

FX to Develop Powers Comic Book as Television Series
Sci Fi Mafia 1/25/2010
Fans of Brian Michael Bendis’ comic book series “Powers” had better hold on to their hats! Not only is the comic book series being adapted into a television series for the FX network, but Bendis is also working on the series with Kevin Falls, the creator of 2007’s sci-fi television series “Journeyman” that was on NBC. (Read the Full Article)

10 Science-Fiction Heroes Who Don’t Need Origin Stories
io9.com 1/22/2010
These days, every science-fiction hero needs to have an origin story — as if they’re all superheroes. But some heroes are actually way better off without cookie-cutter origins. Here are 10 classic scifi heroes whose origins should remain mysterious. (Read the Full Article)

To 3D or not to 3D for Clash of the Titans?
Heat Vision 1/20/2010
Warner Bros. will decide in the next 10 days whether to release Louis Leterrier’s remake of action fantasy “Clash of the Titans” in 3D. (Read the Full Article)

The ‘true story’ of how Dr. King kept Uhura on Star Trek
Sci Fi Wire 1/19/2010
If you’re a Star Trek fan, you’ve no doubt heard the story of how Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. persuaded Nichelle Nichols to remain on the original series as Lt. Uhura when she was thinking of leaving after the first season.  Well, we’ve heard it, too, but given that we celebrate Dr. King’s legacy this week, it’s worth repeating (Read the Full Article)

Dr. Horrible 2 has to go now or we’ll lose it for a year
Sci Fi Wire 1/19/2010
After the ultimate cancellation of Fox’s Dollhouse, creator Joss Whedon can focus entirely on a sequel to Dr. Horrible’s Sing-Along Blog, but he’d better do it right quick: Star Neil Patrick Harris tells us that he has a limited amount of time to put on his white lab coat again. (Read the Full Article)

Summit develops ‘Push’ TV series
The Hollywood Reporter 1/19/2010
Summit Entertainment, the upstart film outfit behind the “Twilight” phenom as well as critical fave “The Hurt Locker,” is doing what all clever indies do: “pushing” into TV.  The company is partnering with another indie, E1 Entertainment, to jointly develop and produce a TV series based on Summit’s recent pic “Push.” (Read the Full Article)

Interview with Zack Whedon about Terminator Comic Book Mini-Series
Comic Book Resources 1/18/2010
Whedon’s three-issue “Terminator” miniseries begins in March, shining the spotlight on Kyle Reese, the man destined to sire the savior of humankind. Earlier today, CBR News brought you an interview with artist Andy MacDonald, and we continue our “Terminator” coverage with a discussion with Zack Whedon. (Read the Full Article)

For those of us pining for Bryan Fuller’s dark comedy Pushing Daisies which ABC cancelled last year, there is some good news. Fuller had promised to continue the story in comic book form (a la Jericho) and he has started on the graphic novel. Chi McBride who played irascible private eye Emerson Cod on the show and who has moved on to FOX’s Human Target has seen the first few pages and said: “It was off the hook. It’s really good.” He claims that what he has seen so far has a slightly darker tone than the series but that it should carry over well to comics and that it should “wrap up the continuation of these characters’ lives.” Since Fuller has just started on the project, there is no indication as to when it will be released in the stores.

The Book of Eli and The Lovely Bones finally broke up the Top 3 slots at the Box Office as those two movies bumped Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks from the Number 2 and 3 slots they have held onto for the past three weeks. Neither was strong enough to dethrone Avatar (though Book of Eli did beat it on Friday) which is now at its fifth straight week at Number 1 and is currently positioned to surpass Titanic as the highest grossing movie ever worldwide this coming week. Avatar has topped $1.6 billion globally so far and should overtake Titanic’s total Box Office draw of $1.84 billion either this week or the next.  ou can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.

Also, following are some highlights of Science Fiction and Fantasy related stories from our reddit.com page The Sci Fi Scroll (sign up and submit your own stories):

Could Joss Whedon be planning a new series with FX?
Sci Fi Wire 1/17/2010
Will Joss Whedon make a new show for cable TV?  That’s the tantalizing hint presented by FX president John Landgraf, speaking with reporters on Sunday and saying that he’s having lunch with Whedon. (Read the Full Article)

MARVEL Announces Next Wave of Greatest Comics For Only One Dollar
Sci Fi Mafia 1/16/2010
Press Release: Marvel is proud to announce the next wave of Marvel’s Greatest Comics imprint, spotlighting Marvel’s most-acclaimed series with new printings for only $1.00! (Read the Full Article)

HBO high on fantasy Game of Thrones
Hollywood Reporter 1/14/2010
Following HBO’s portion of TV Critics Assn.’s winter press tour Thursday, the HBO programming chief Michael Lombardo said the dailies for the pilot look “fantastic” and that the project looks very strong for a series pickup. (Read the Full Article)

Did Lionsgate Just Start A Terminator Bidding War?
io9.com 1/14/2010
Earlier this week, everyone thought the Terminator rights were in the bag for Lionsgate, since no-one else wanted it. But now Sony, Warner, Summit and Legendary are rumored to be readying their own bids. (Read the Full Article)

Put A Hold On The Apocalypse – SUPERNATURAL May Have Another Season
Sci Fi Mafia 1/14/2010
Word from the CW President, Dawn Ostroff, is that Supernatural creator Eric Kripke is “warming to the idea of a sixth season.” (Read the Full Article)

Avatar, Sherlock Holmes, and Alvin and the Chipmunks kept their lock on the top three spots at the Box Office over the weekend allowing Daybreakers to only open at Number 4 with approximately $15 million in receipts. Those numbers may seem anemic compared to the bloated take from movies like Avatar, but since Daybreakers only had a modest budget of $20 million, it is already on track to turn a profit. Meanwhile, Avatar has now moved up to the Number 2 slot among all-time highest grossing movies with over $1.3 billion in receipts so far and appears to have Number 1 in its sites.  You can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.

NBC has announced that they will pull out of their experiment with running Jay Leno five nights a week in Prime Time which will leave them with five hours of programming to fill pretty quickly. For the current season, that may be a boon for the post-apocalyptic project Day One. That show’s prospects have dwindled previously as it started out planned as a thirteen episode “event” with a chance for continuation, then got downgraded to a four-hour mini-series then more recently got demoted to a two-hour movie. However, if the movie (currently not scheduled) does even slightly well in the ratings, it could receive a quick greenlight to series seeing as the pre-production and preparation is done and it could get rolling pretty quickly. Also, Heroes could benefit from the move when decisions for next season come around. That show’s ratings have fallen to all-time lows this season, and many have considered it a sure-thing for cancellation. However, NBC will probably not want to go into the next season too heavily loaded with new properties and may bring Heroes back for its name recognition factor (which isn’t as high as it once was, but still means something). They have already asked Tim Kring to provide a pitch for a potential fifth season. It’s too early to tell at this point, but Heroes fans and those anticipating the arrival of Day One can only hope for the best from this turn of events (this will help Chuck’s chances of getting a fourth season nod as well).

President Obama stared Lost straight in the eye, and the chief executive blinked! Or the smoke monster paid him a visit. In any case, the hullabaloo over Obama’s State of the Union address preemtping the Lost Season 6 premiere is now moot as the date of the speech has moved to a different night. So apparently even the “most powerful man in the world” won’t take a chance at getting the island mad at him!

Also, following are some highlights of Science Fiction and Fantasy related stories from our reddit.com page The Sci Fi Scroll (sign up and submit your own stories):

Lost: The Next Generation Could Be On Its Way
i09.com 1/10/10
The sixth and final season of Lost begins next month, but ABC may have plans to extend the series beyond its natural conclusion. Unwilling to let one of their most lucrative franchises go, the network is considering a spin-off. (Read the Full Article)

FlashForward will reveal these big secrets when it returns
Sci Fi Wire 1/11/10
We have to wait until March for ABC’s FlashForward to return, but once it does, expect answers to everything. That’s what series co-creator and executive producer David Goyer promises. What’s first? (Read the Full Article)

Will We Like How Lost Ends?
Slice of Sci Fi 1/8/10
As the sixth season of “Lost” gets ready to debut, producers Damon Lindelof and Carleton Cuse say they’ve been looking back on the finales of other high-profile shows with a long-term story arc for inspiration and guidance.  Among them are the endings of “Battlestar Galactica,” “The Shield” and “The Sopranoes.” (Read the Full Article)

Neill Bloomkamp to do Prequel for District 9
Sci Fi Scoop 1/8/10
Amidst all the hullabaloo about District 9 turning out to be the first choice of the critics and also the film being nominated for the Producers Guild Award, it is now official that the film will have a prequel and not a sequel as reported earlier. (Read the Full Article)

Why the vampire film Daybreakers is the anti-Twilight
Sci Fi Wire 1/5/10
If you’ve had it up to your eyeteeth with sparkly swoony teen vampires, then you’re going to love Daybreakers, Ethan Hawke’s upcoming supernatural sci-fi horror movie. (Read the Full Article)

Pierre Morel to direct Dune
Heat Vision 1/4/10
Pierre Morel has signed a deal to direct “Dune,” Paramount’s adaptation of Frank Herbert’s science fiction novel. (Read the Full Article)

In its third weekend of release, James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster, CGI extravaganza held onto the Number 1 slot at the Box Office and surpassed $1 billion in gross revenue worldwide. The movie pulled in an estimated $68.3 million domestically over the New Years weekend bringing its total in the States to over $352 million. On top of that, Avatar has excited theater-goers across the globe to the tune of almost $667 million so far. This moves the film to Number 4 among the all-time highest grossing films (passing titles like The Dark Knight and Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone this past weekend), and it is still going strong. Currently, the highest grossing film of all time is Titanic, also directed by Cameron, which earned $1.84 billion worldwide. If Avatar keeps up its current pace, it could equal or surpass Cameron’s previous winner before ending its theatrical run. Sherlock Holmes and Alvin and the Chipmunks repeated at the Number 2 and 3 slots respectively this last weekend as well, each having a strong second weekend and having pulled in well over $100 million so far across the holiday season.  You can see the full Box Office results from the weekend at Box Office Mojo.

Also, following are some highlights of Science Fiction and Fantasy related stories from our reddit.com page The Sci Fi Scroll (sign up and submit your own stories):

Big Showdown In Store For Heroes
Sci Fi Mafia 1/4/2010
What’s in store for the rest of this Season 4 of NBC’s “Heroes”?  Masi Oka gives us morsels in anticipation of “Heroes” return tonight at 8/7 pm C. (Read the Full Article)

Why Is JJ Abrams Obsessed With Alice in Wonderland?
io9.com 1/3/2010
JJ Abrams and Alice in Wonderland: What’s the connection? Lost is rife with Carroll-isms, and now Fringe is falling down the same rabbit hole. io9.com investigates the Abrams/Alice relationship just in time for Fringe to pick up January 11th. (Read the Full Article)

District 9’s Neill Blomkamp Explains Why He Won’t Make Big Budget Movies
io9.com 1/1/2010
When District 9 director Neill Blomkamp makes his next film, he won’t have a $100 million budget. Instead, he’ll keep making films on the (relative) cheap, because it’s the only way to make science fiction movies with creative freedom. (Read the Full Article)

Goodbye, Doctor Who: David Tennant’s exit interview
Sci Fi Wire 1/1/2009
What could be better than actor David Tennant, Doctor Who’s the Doctor, interviewing the show’s master re-imaginer, Russell T Davies? The two sat down and offered up a fascinating interview on BBC Radio 2 called Who on Who? (Read the Full Article)

Well it would appear that FOX does not have to worry about Avatar making a profit. The movie that has a combined budget and marketing campaign in the neighborhood of half a billion has already surpassed that mark globally. Avatar was down only 2% from its opening weekend as it pulled in $75.6 million domestically and remained on top at the Box Office. With its strong showing both domestically and internationally over the holiday season, the movie has already surpassed $600 million in gross revenue and it’s still early in its run. It will likely start to drop off more after New Years as everybody heads back to school and their jobs, but it still has considerably more receipts to rake in before it is done. And surely James Cameron is currently in the process of mapping out the multiple sequels to this new powerhouse franchise.

The steampunk re-imagining of Sherlock Holmes came in second place to Avatar, but this one was no slouch as it pulled an impressive $62.4 million in its opening weekend. With Robert Downy Jr. in the lead role, this one looks set to spearhead a franchise of its own based on the famous literary detective. And speaking of franchises, Alvin and the Chipmunks 2: The Squeakquel did well in its debut as the family movie of choice over the Christmas weekend. It came in at Number 3 and pulled in $48.9 million in receipts (nearly matching the opening tally of the first movie) and seems surely destined to spawn even more entries for the famous singing chipmunks. With the one-two-three punch of these three movies, this past weekend set a record as the highest grossing weekend ever with a total windfall of close to $270 million.

With a more humble opening weekend, Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus still did well in limited release as it averaged $31k across the four theaters in which it opened. We indicated last week that this one would have wide release over the Christmas holiday, but apparently plans were changed. I do not see an updated date for wide release at this time.

Because of the holidays, a fully tally of the Top 20 at the Box Office was not available. Following are the Science Fiction and Fantasy movies in the Top 10 this past weekend:

Title / Box Office Rank (Rank Prior Week) / Weekend Draw (Total)
1) Avatar – Prior Wk: 1, Draw (Total): $75.62 MM ($212.71 MM)
2) Sherlock Holmes – Prior Wk: New, Draw (Total): $62.39 MM ($62.39 MM)
3) Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel – Prior Wk: New, Draw (Total): $48.88 MM ($75.59 MM)
7) The Princess and the Frog – Prior Wk: 2, Draw (Total): $9. MM ($63.68 MM)

Source: Box Office Mojo

Previous Results: Avatar Wins the Battle, but What About the War?

As expected, Avatar won the top slot at the Box Office in its opening weekend, pulling in $77 million in domestic gross revenue. It set several records in its debut as it had the largest opening for an original story that was not a sequel or a remake and it also set an opening weekend record for a 3-D movie. It also just barely missed I Am Legend’s mark for the highest opening weekend in December. Outside of the states, Avatar pulled in an additional $165 million bringing its overall total to almost $242 million. Quite an impressive feat for a brand new franchise, but the bad news is that it still has quite a ways to go to turn a profit. Allegedly the movie had a budget in the $300 million range and FOX shelled out somewhere around $200 million in promotions, so the movie still has to pull in another $260 million to wind up in the black. That’s not unreachable considering that the holiday season finds more people in the theaters, but it’s still possible the movie could come up short. Still, the additional revenue from the vast merchandising campaign which has accompanied Avatar will help the bottom line, and then DVD sales will follow next year. So unless the movie sees a sharp drop-off after its opening weekend (which is not impossible considering some of the lukewarm reviews it has received), it should eventually turn a profit for FOX and I’m guessing they will greenlight a sequel (though they may clamp down on the budget by that point).

Up next at the Box Office is Sherlock Holmes, which looks like it will do good business though nothing in the neighborhood of Avatar, and Terry Gilliam’s The Imaginarium of Doctor Parnassus, which looks interesting but will probably not generate massive ticket sales. Both movies open on Christmas day. (And there’s also Alvin and the Chipmunks: The Squeakquel opening on Wednesday if you are into that type of thing.)

Following are the results for all of the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies in the Top 20 for the weekend of December 18-20:

Title / Box Office Rank (Rank Prior Week) / Weekend Draw (Total)
1) Avatar – Prior Wk: New, Draw (Total): $77.03 MM ($77.03 MM)
2) The Princess and the Frog – Prior Wk: 1, Draw (Total): $12.19 MM ($44.72 MM)
5) The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Prior Wk: 4, Draw (Total): $4.41 MM ($274.6 MM)
7) A Christmas Carol (2009) – Prior Wk: 5, Draw (Total): $3.44 MM ($130.81 MM)
11) 2012 – Prior Wk: 8, Draw (Total): $2.2 MM ($159.03 MM)
14) Ninja Assassin – Prior Wk: 10, Draw (Total): $.93 MM ($36.42 MM)
15) Planet 51 – Prior Wk: 12, Draw (Total): $.81 MM ($38.5 MM)
16) The Road – Prior Wk: 17, Draw (Total): $.66 MM ($4.93 MM)
18) The Fantastic Mr. Fox – Prior Wk: 14, Draw (Total): $.6 MM ($17.39 MM)

Source: Box Office Mojo

Previous Results: Princess Reigns Over the Theaters

Disney’s traditional animation movie The Princess and the Frog climbed to the Number 1 slot at the Box Office this last weekend in its third week as it was expanded from limited to wide release. This is one of the first major movies in some time to use the old-style, hand-drawn (mostly) animation as opposed to the more popular CGI approach, and its success may open the door to more entries in this vein. New Moon lost a considerable amount of steam from its record breaking opening and it dropped to the Number 4 slot with just under $8 million in receipts. That one has still made a ton of money and will assure that this franchise (and all of its imitators) will stick around for some time. A Christmas Carol slipped one slot to Number 5, but that one continues to draw people looking for a holiday-themed movie. 2012 dropped to the Number 8 slot in its 5th week of release.

Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones opened this last weekend, but only in three theaters as its wide release has been pushed back to January 15th (our bad for thinking this was the weekend of its wide release). Still that movie did well in those three theaters pulling in an amazing average of almost $39k per venue.  The Road, also in limited release, continued to hang out in the lower rungs of the Top 20 during its third week.

This coming weekend will definitely rock the Box Office as James Cameron’s heavily anticipated blockbuster Avatar hits the theaters. If you want to catch that one on its opening weekend, you may want to get in line now or buy your tickets online early!

Following are the results for all of the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies in the Top 20 for the weekend of December 11-13:

Title / Box Office Rank (Rank Prior Week) / Weekend Draw (Total)
1) The Princess and the Frog – Prior Wk: 16, Draw (Total): $24.21 MM ($27.09 MM)
4) The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Prior Wk: 2, Draw (Total): $7.96 MM ($267.32 MM)
5) A Christmas Carol (2009) – Prior Wk: 4, Draw (Total): $6.83 MM ($124.43 MM)
8) 2012 – Prior Wk: 6, Draw (Total): $4.35 MM ($155.29 MM)
10) Ninja Assassin – Prior Wk: 8, Draw (Total): $2.71 MM ($34.3 MM)
12) Planet 51 – Prior Wk: 9, Draw (Total): $2.27 MM ($37.14 MM)
14) The Fantastic Mr. Fox – Prior Wk: 11, Draw (Total): $1.4 MM ($16.26 MM)
17) The Road – Prior Wk: 15, Draw (Total): $.51 MM ($4.01 MM)

Source: Box Office Mojo

Previous Results: Quiet First Weekend of December

With no major releases this weekend, the Box Office was pretty quiet as December kicked off. New Moon dropped to the Number 2 slot, A Christmas Carol dropped to Number 5, and 2012 dropped to Number 6. This coming weekend will bring us the release of Peter Jackson’ The Lovely Bones, then the following weekend should break the Box Office with the release of James Cameron’s mega-blockbuster Avatar.

Following are the results for all of the Science Fiction, Fantasy, and Horror movies in the Top 20 for the weekend of December 4-6:

Title / Box Office Rank (Rank Prior Week) / Weekend Draw (Total)
2) The Twilight Saga: New Moon – Prior Wk: 1, Draw (Total): $15.43 MM ($255.36 MM)
4) A Christmas Carol (2009) – Prior Wk: 5, Draw (Total): $7.76 MM ($115.25 MM)
6) 2012 – Prior Wk: 3, Draw (Total): $6.77 MM ($148.96 MM)
8) Ninja Assassin – Prior Wk: 6, Draw (Total): $5.06 MM ($29.82 MM)
9) Planet 51 – Prior Wk: 7, Draw (Total): $4.39 MM ($34.05 MM)
11) The Fantastic Mr. Fox – Prior Wk: 9, Draw (Total): $2.92 MM ($14.08 MM)
15) The Road – Prior Wk: 10, Draw (Total): $.75 MM ($3.19 MM)
16) The Princess and the Frog – Prior Wk: 18, Draw (Total): $.75 MM ($2.41 MM)
18) The Men Who Stare at Goats – Prior Wk: 11, Draw (Total): $.4 MM ($31.29 MM)

Source: Box Office Mojo

Previous Results: New Moon Gives Thanks Over Holiday Weekend