Box Office: 'Chihuahua' outruns 'Eagle'

By Franck Tabouring
Weekend of October 3 – 5, 2008

Walt Disney Pictures’ family adventure “Beverly Hills Chihuahua” took an easy lead at the North American box office this weekend with $29 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

Raja Gosnell’s film about a spoiled chihuahua ending up astray in Mexico had no problems taking over the No. 1 spot from last week’s box office winner “Eagle Eye,” which finished strong in second place.

D.J. Caruso’s action thriller starring Shia LaBeouf took home another $17.7 million, reaching a domestic total of $54.6 million after only two weeks in release. Released by DreamWorks, the film follows a slacker and a single mom who are framed as terrorists and forced to participate in a political assassination.

Debuting in third place with $12 million was Peter Sollett’s “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” which stars Michael Cera and Kat Dennings as two young adults who spend an incredibly chaotic night together in New York City.

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‘Beverly Hills Chihuahua’ leads Friday b.o.

Friday marked a great start at the box office for Raja Gosnell’s family flick “Beverly Hills Chihuahua,” which took the No. 1 spot with $7.8 million in ticket sales.

Last week’s champ “Eagle Eye” slipped to second place but still went strong, pulling in $5.5 million. D.J Caruso’s Shia LaBeouf action vehicle reached a domestic total of $42.4 million.

Debuting in third place with $4.4 million was Peter Sollett’s “Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist,” a romance in which Michael Cera and Kat Dennings spend a turbulent night together in New York City.

Ed Harris’ western “Appaloosa” expanded over the weekend, climbing all the way to No. 5 with $1.5 million. The film made slightly less than George C. Wolfe’s “Nights in Rodanthe,” which tool home $2.4 million in fourth place.

Four the other three wide releases, it didn’t look that well Friday. “Blindness” ranked 11th with $750,000, while “Flash of Genius” only collected $720,000 at No. 12. The biggest disappointment was Simon Pegg’s new comedy “How to Lose Friends & Alienate People,” which picked up $460,000.

Even Bill Maher’s “Religulous” performed better at only 502 locations, earning $1.1 million in tenth place.

Source: Box Office Mojo (www.boxofficemojo.com)

Review: “Blindness”

Seen on: October 3, 2008

The players: Director: Fernando Meirelles, Writers: Don McKellar, Jose Saramago (book), Cast: Julianne Moore, Mark Ruffalo, Danny Glover, Alice Braga

Facts of interest: Opened this year's Cannes Film Festival.

The plot: The film follows a small group of people struggling to survive after an epidemic of blindness descends upon their city.

Our thoughts: Fernando Meirelles’ “Blindness” is not as powerful or engaging as his previous works “The Constant Gardener” and “Cidade de Deus,” but the film is definitely not as bas as some critics made it out to be. The nature of the subject matter examined in this mystery thriller is one that concerns all of us, but it’s the way it is presented here that may not be appealing to large audiences.

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'Blindness' web reviews

Fernando Meirelles returns to the big screen with "Blindness," a mystery thriller about an epidemic of blindness that descends upon a large city. Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore star in the lead roles. The film premiered at Cannes and pulled mixed reviews. Let's see what our online friends have to say about it:

• Katey Rich at Cinema Blend: "A sharp view of humanity with a glimmer of hope, 'Blindness' is a movie for our times-- flawed, brutal, with key moments of brilliance."

• LatinoReview's Ron Henriques: "Though the third act takes the picture in a direction filled with hope and perhaps freedom, the dramatic power is already lost and the story is turned into nothing more than a morality tale."

• James Rocchi at Cinematical: "But while Blindness can be faulted for many things, it also has to be respected for its ambition, craft, and effort."

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Watch the first five minutes of 'Blindness'

Yahoo! posted the first five minutes of Fernando Meirelles' mystery thriller "Blindness," which opens tomorrow. I didn't watch it because I want to walk into the film not knowing how it kicks off, but I decided to post the clip in case you want to get a small taste of the film. Watch at own risk! In the film starring Mark Ruffalo and Julianne Moore, an epidemic of blindness descends upon a large city.