Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End is no longer the number one movie in the world. Shrek the Third has started playing in dozens extra countries, and this has resulted in the green ogre taking over the number one spot. Shrek the Third made $ 46 million from 36 countries, meaning there are still many more countries to go where Shrek will no doubt also make off with a lot of money. Pirates is now in the second position, with $ 32.6 million from over 100 countries, and the movie is well on it's way to make $ 600 million outside of the US alone. Not sure if the movie will reach the $ 1 billion mark, as the movie is not doing so well anymore in the US, where it's struggling to reach $ 300 million. Third position in the international box office is for Ocean's 13, which made $ 26.3 million from 38 countries. Not a bad gross at all, but I don't think Warner has signed any contracts for Ocean's 14 yet...
As was expected, Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver SUrfer was the number one movie in America over the past weekend. What wasn't expected however, was that it would open with even bigger numbers than the first Fantastic Four movie. And even though the increase wasn't that huge, $ 57.4 million to $ 56 million, it's still a sign that 20th Century Fox has done a good job promoting their new superhero movie. In a summer where people seemed to quickly grow bored with sequels, after several sequels disappointed, the fact that here is a sequel that improves on the original, wasn't lost on moviegoers. Now we will have to wait and see whether or not good word of mouth can give this movie a bit longer legs than all the other summer blockbusters. In second place, we find Ocean's 13. It dropped 47 percent, which is actually a pretty decent drop for a summer threequel. Most of the times, threequels lose about 55 percent or more, so Warner Bros can be pleased with the result. Knocked Up took third place this weekend, with a gross of $ 14.5 million, while Pirates fell to fourth place with $ 12 million. The Pirates total is now $ 273.8 million, which is up from the first movie, which had grossed 31 percent loss at this point in it's run, but 24 percent down from the second Pirates movie. Animated movie Surf's Up fell to fifth with $ 9.3 million. According to analysts, Surf' Up can consider itself lucky if it makes way with a final gross of about $ 60 million, which nowadays is not what you wish your animated blockbuster makes.
At the international box office, Pirates still ruled supreme. The movie made another $ 51.3 million, which means it is now well on it's way to break the $ 500 million barrier today or tomorrow. This, despite the fact that both Ocean's Thirteen and Shrek the Third opened or expanded in a large chunk of the countries. Ocean's stole away with $ 28 million, while Shrek the Third had to make do with $ 25 million. Of course, if you compare the amount of countries the movies play in, Pirates plays in 103 countries, while Ocean's and Shrek play in 30 and 25 countries respectively, then the two contender's for the top spot did a lot better than Pirates, but since neither of those movies had the type of worldwide launch Pirates enjoyed, they weren't able to beat the Pirates out of the top position. You can expect a more serious challenge for the title from Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer next weekend, because that movie will also open worldwide.
Ocean's Thirteen was the highest grosser of the weekend in the US box Office, but the opening gross was smaller than that of either Ocean's 11 or 12. The movie made $ 37.1 million, which is a perfectly fine amount of money, just not as high as analysts expected before the weekend. Word is now that people are getting a bit bored of all the threequels, after the first three threequels of the summer all disappointed in some measure. Good reviews for Thirteen couldn't help it to a franchise record, but if the movie is able to pick up some good word of mouth, things might still turn out alright for both this movie and the chances of another sequel.
After we have already seen three threequels come out and break records, here comes threequel number four. Contrary to the other three threequels, reviews for Ocean's 13 have been quite positive, stating that this movie is actually better than the second part, though the first part is still the best in the series, without any doubt. So, now that audiences have become a bit wary of threequels, how well is Ocean's 13 going to do? Analysts are predicting no record breaking. This is not unexpected, since neither of the previous two movies was a record breaker, and unlike Shrek, Spider-Man and Pirates of the Caribbean, the Ocean's movies don't have a huge fanbase that want to go see the movie on opening day. These are movies that people like a lot, but not love, and it's more a movie that you can go and take your spouse to see, rather than something you camp out for with your buddies. Plus, these are movies that have longer legs (and I don't mean Elen Barkin's), so that the gross doesn't just come from the opening ten days. Still, with the rising ticket prices, chances are high that Ocean's 13 will at least be the best opener in the series. Openings for the first two parts in the US were $ 38.1 and $ 39 million, I think we can expect this one to pass the $ 40 million.
Cinema history has seen a lot of great heist movies. Take, for instance, the original Thomas Crown Affair, or the original Italian Job, or even the original Ocean's Eleven. Heck, those movies were so cool that even their remakes were a lot of fun to watch. There is just something about a carefully planned heist, even though the genre does have it's fair share of cliches. But if a heist movie is well made, you not only don't mind the cliches, you even expect them to be in it. I wonder how many of these cliches are going to pop up in this weeks new heist movie, Ocean's Thirteen!
Right before the world premiere of Ocean's 13, three of the stars of the movie, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon, as well as the movie's producer Jerry Weintraub, were allowed to put their hands and feet into cement outside legendary Grauman's Chinese Theater. The stars were clearly flushed by the honor, and they joked right after the ceremony, showing how relaxed they were. "If I had to be on my hands and knees with three other guys," Clooney said, "these are the best guys I could do it with, and I mean that in the best possible way." Damon added that "this isn't the first time somebody tried to put Jerry Weintraub's feet in cement."
Ocean's 13 had it's big Hollywood gala premiere, and photographers from all over the world were on hand to take as many pics of the stars of the movie as possible. Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie looked stunning together, while many of the other stars were also clearly enjoying themselves.
