By Fred Topel | Image property of Warner Bros., Variety
Get Smart
While the competition in the comedy genre should have been fierce over this weekend with both Get Smart and The Love Guru having wide releases, it looks like audiences made the (mind the pun) smart choice.
Box Office Winner: Get Smart
Just as we expected, Mike Myers' The Love Guru didn't have enough good karma to fight off Carell's Maxwell Smart. With comedy that was considered less than juvenile, Guru couldn't even compete.
Get Smart took the #1 spot over the weekend with a strong $39.1 million. Considering that many territories, including So. Cal, were hit with a heat wave -- keeping moviegoers closer to water than to theaters -- Warner Bros. has to be pleased with the film's first-weekend take.
The Love Guru, on the other hand, didn't fare as well with only an estimated $14 million from its opening bow. With star power that included Mike Myers and Justin Timberlake (for a little extra sizzle), Paramount has got to be disappointed with these numbers. On the other hand, they must have seen this coming after watching the film's trailers. Never once did this film look good.
Fortunately for Paramount, their pet Kung Fu Panda continues to hold strong at the box office. The film declined a miniscule 35% in its third frame to an estimated $21.7 million. The CG-animation's strong numbers helped it basically tie Universal's The Incredible Hulk for the #2 spot. Marvel's attempt at Hulk dropped a depressing 61% in its second weekend to earn $21.5 million. For you math geniuses, this would officially give the film the #3 spot.
Curiosity wasn't enough to keep moviegoers coming to Shyamalan's The Happening. Well, that and the fact that the film is shadowed by negative word of mouth. The film dropped 67% in its second frame to earn an estimated $10 million.
Thanks most in part to Get Smart, the weekend box office was up 5% over the same frame last year.
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