Box Office: 'Watchmen' easily wins race with $55.6M

Weekend of March 6 – 8, 2009

Zack Snyder’s “Watchmen” stormed the North American box office this weekend with $55.6 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The big-screen adaptation of the celebrated graphic novel scored the widest release ever for an R-rated film, opening at 3,611 locations. The film also collected $4.5 million from midnight screenings early Friday.

Still, “Watchmen” failed to beat Snyder’s last film “300,” which debuted at 3,280 locations two years ago and delivered a $70.8 million opening weekend gross.

At No. 2, Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes to Jail” collected another $8.8 million, reaching a domestic total of $76.5 million after three weeks in release. The film already passed the $63.2 million total gross of its predecessor, “Madea’s Family Reunion.”

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Box Office: ‘Madea’ kicks Jonas Brothers off stage

Weekend of February 27 – March 1, 2009

Tyler Perry’s “Madea Goes to Jail” topped the North American box office for the second consecutive weekend with $16.5 million in ticket sales, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The latest installment in the popular “Madea” series regained momentum Saturday and Sunday after briefly losing its No. 1 spot to new entry “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” on Friday. The film’s total currently stands at $64.8 million.

At No. 2, the Bruce Hendricks-directed concert film “Jonas Brothers” collected $12 million. The 3D musical event follows the popular band on its Burning Up tour and offers fans a glimpse at how the boys spend their time offstage.

Meanwhile, Danny Boyle’s Oscar-winning drama “Slumdog Millionaire” climbed to No. 3 after expanding into 2,943 theaters, collecting $12.1 million and reaching a total haul of $115.1 million after 16 weeks in release.

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'Jonas Brothers' rule Friday box office

Bruce Hendricks' concert movie "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience" topped the North American box office Friday with an estimated $4.8 million in ticket sales.

Playing in 3D, the film follows the popular band on their Burning Up tour. The formula already proved successful for last year's "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour," which grossed $65.2 million.

Last week's winner "Madea Goes to Jail" dropped to No. 2, earning $4.6 million and reaching a domestic total of $52.9 million. Finishing third was "Slumdog Millionaire," which brought its cumulative gross to $106.1 million after Friday's gross of $3.2 million.

Meanwhile, Pierre Morel's thriller "Taken" took home $2.8 million Friday, lifting its total haul to $100.7 million. At No. 5, Ken Kwapis' comedy "He's Just Not That Into You" earned $1.9 million for a cumulative gross of $74.5 million.

The weekend's only other wide release, "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li," only made it to sixth place with $1.7 million in ticket sales.

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

This week's new movie releases - Feb. 27, 2009

It will be a quiet week, as we're only looking at two wide releases this Friday: Andrzej Bartkowiak's "Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li" with Kristin Kreuk, and Bruce Hendricks' "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience." Let's take a closer look:

STREET FIGHTER: THE LEGEND OF CHUN-LI

Synopsis: Warriors converge on the streets of Bangkok, preparing for the ultimate battle of terror versus beauty, light versus darkness and good versus evil. That's the official synopsis, anyway, and I think that pretty much sums it up well enough.

First thoughts: People have been throwing plenty of hate at me already because I think the trailer and clips for "Street Fighter" look pretty lame, but hey, I don't care. I simply can't warm up to this film, and come Friday, I'll know whether I was right approaching it with low expectations.

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Four new 'Jonas Brothers' clips debut online

Jonas Brothers fans, rejoice! You will soon get to see your musical heroes on the big screen and in 3D!

The folks at Yahoo! Movies recently debuted four brand-new clips from the upcoming "Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience," which will open in theaters Feb. 27 in 3D.

In the film, you will get to follow the band across the country on its "Burning Up Tour." You'll get to see them onstage, backstage, in their hotel rooms, etc.

Bruce Hendricks, who directed the film, also helmed last year's "Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour," which brought in a whopping $65.2 million.

It will be interesting to see if the Jonas Brothers have the power to kick Hannah Montana's butt, but my guess is they probably won't (at least not if the film is released exclusively in 3D, and I am not quite sure of that).

Anyway, enjoy the clips below and see your dream boys on the big screen soon. I'm definitely not among the traget audience, so I obviously can't get excited about it.

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