With only $56,573,000, “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince
Caspian" is the champion of this weekend's box office, but it failed to
surpass the first movie of the franchise "The Chronicles of Narnia: The
Lion, The Witch and the Wardrobe", which earned $65,6 million during its
first three days of availability.
Also, “Prince Caspian” failed to meet the expectations of
the movie analysts, who had forecasted an opening within the $80 million
range.
However, the film doesn’t begin with the characters' arrival in
Narnia, but presents the background of the following story.
In this second movie about Narnia, the Telemarine Prince
Caspian (Ben Barnes) is wakened by his mentor, Doctor Cornelius (Vincent
Grass), who warns him that his life is endangered by his uncle’s malefic plans.
Miraz (Sergio Castellitto), who is a usurper that killed his own brother,
intended to make Caspian his heir, but only until he had his own child.
The four Pevensie children Peter (William Moseley), Susan
(Anna Popplewell), Edmund (Skandar Keynes) and Lucy (Georgie Henley) will journey
back in their fantasy world to help the good prince in his fight against his
evil uncle.
Like the prior film The Chronicles of Narnia, Prince Caspian
was produced by Walt Disney Pictures and Walden Media.
“Iron Man” had another strong weekend after it opened with
earnings of $100,750,000 in the US
alone, and crashed its competition, “Speed Racer”, last weekend.
Produced by Marvel Entertainment and distributed by
Paramount Pictures, the $135 million-budget movie continued to hammer out box
office gold in its third week from release with earnings of $31,200,000. So far
the movie has earned $222,485,000.
Enjoying many favorable reviews, the movie boosted the
career of Robert Downey Jr., who plays the role of Tony Stark, a billionaire
weapons manufacturer who turns himself into a superhero, after being kidnapped
by terrorists in Afghanistan.
With Jon Favreau as director and co-starring Gwyneth
Paltrow, Jeff Bridges and Terrence Howard, “Iron Man” kicked off the summer
movie season by comfortably ranking 10th among Hollywood’s biggest opening
weekends and garnering the second best ever premiere for a non-sequel (behind
2002’s “Spider-Man,” with $114.8 mil).
“What Happens in Vegas,” starring Cameron Diaz, Ashton
Kutcher, Rob Corddry, Lake
Bell and Dennis Farina, had
another strong weekend with $13,850,000 in ticket sales, after it earned
$20,000,000 in its release weekend.
Written by Dana Fox and directed by Tom Vaughan, the 99-minute-Tong
comedy shares the story of two people who discover they’ve gotten married
following a night of debauchery in Vegas, with one of them winning a jackpot
after playing the other’s quarter. The pair tries to undermine each other and
get their hands on the money, but they fall in love along the way.
“Speed Racer” continues to be a disappointment and the
cinematographical return of The Matrix’s creators, the Wachowski brothers,
earned only $7,645,000 in its second weekend.
Based on the 1960s’ Japanese animation series “Mach GoGoGo,”
which was initially inspired by a comic book of the genre and starring Emile
Hirsch, John Goodman, Christina Ricci and Susan Sarandon, “Speed Racer” had its
debut last weekend when it earned only $20,210,000,
“Baby Mama,” in which Tina Fey plays a career woman who
feels that her biological clock ceased ticking subtly and is on the verge of
ringing, ranked fifth with $4,593,000, closely followed by another comedy, Sony’s
“Made Of Honor” with $4,500,000.
Directed by Paul Weiland, and co-written by debutant Adam
Sztykiel and Deborah Kaplan and Harry Elfont, “Made of Honor” is a romantic
comedy that did not receive too many favorable reviews. It tells the story of
Tom (Patrick Dempsey) and Hannah (Michelle Monaghan), who are best friends
until Hannah gets engaged and Tom realizes he is madly in love with her. The
movie borrowed elements from several romantic movies and, despite its funny
moments, it was considered too predictable.
“Forgetting Sarah Marshall,” directed by debutant Nicholas
Stoller, occupied the seventh position,
with $2,538,000. “Harold And Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay” is on the eight spot, with $1,800,000 in ticket sales,
followed by „The Forbidden Kingdom,” the kung fu movie that reunites Jackie
Chan and Jet Li, which earned an additional $1,000,000 during this weekend. The
Top 10 is rounded up by “The Visitor” with $687,000.
