Will Smith’s Superpowers Still Work
Will Smith did Hancock a solid.
Smith has star-powered the poorly reviewed superhero hybrid to a $66 million opening weekend, and a No. 1 finish, according to Exhibitor Relations estimates today.
WALL-E, last weekend’s champ, stayed strong, grossing another $33.4 million, but finished a distant second.
Hancock goes down as Smith’s seventh straight movie to open No. 1. If you count Shark Tale, the 2004 animated comedy, as a Smith movie, his streak stands at eight straight.
Overall, Hancock has grossed $107.3 million since “previewing” on Tuesday night and “opening” on Wednesday.
Looking strictly at the movie’s first five days, Wednesday-Sunday, Hancock took in $100.4 million, per Box Office Mojo stats, far behind the pace of this summer’s two leading movies, Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($152 million) and Iron Man ($112.1 million).
Among Smith movies, Hancock becomes his top Fourth of July opener, a testament to the star’s drawing power, yes, but also inflation.
Run the movie math (divide the opening weekend gross by the average ticket price), and the numbers show Independence Day, Smith’s signature Fourth of July hit, sold nearly two million more tickets in its opening weekend in 1996 than Hancock did this weekend.
It’s actually better not to run the movie math. Not if you want to enjoy the holiday weekend to the fullest.
Other box office notes:
- Where WALL-E remained hot and pushed its two-weekend total to $128.1 million, Angelina Jolie’s Wanted (third place, $20.6 million; $90.8 million overall) cooled off considerably, with business down 60 percent.
- In its third weekend, Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, the critically praised Abigail Breslin family film, opened wide and dieda doll-sized $3.6 million (eighth place) off nearly 1,850 screens.
- Speaking of the dearly departed, Mike Myers’ The Love Guru ($1.7 million) dropped out of the Top 10 after just two weekends.
- Looking on the bright side of a big giant bomb, The Love Guru, at $29.3 million overall, is the highest-grossing Justin Timberlake movie of all time. As long as you don’t count Shrek the Third as a Justin Timberlake movie. Which you really shouldn’t.
- The 1990s-nostalgia trip The Wackness, starring Drake & Josh’s Josh Peck, was the star in limited release, grossing $145,064 at six theaters. Its per-screen average of $24,177 was the tops for any movie of the weekend.
- Despite three movies taking in more than $20 million, the Hancock-led Fourth of July was 4 percent smaller than last year’s Transformers-led Fourth of July. The setback set 2008’s overall business once again behind 2007’s.
Here’s a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
- Hancock, $66 million
- WALL-E, $33.4 million
- Wanted, $20.6 million
- Get Smart, $11.1 million
- Kung Fu Panda, $7.5 million
- The Incredible Hulk, $5 million
- Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull, $3.9 million
- Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, $3.6 million
- Sex and the City, $2.3 million
- You Don’t Mess With the Zohan, $2 million
Will and Jada Fund a New Elementary School
They may not be Scientologists, but Will Smith and Jada Pinkett-Smith show a lot of support for the controversial religion.
The Hollywood power couple are two of the big-name founders of a new private elementary school near Los Angeles that will incorporate a teaching method developed by Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard and employ some teachers who are church members.
The nondenominational New Village Academy in Calabasas will open Sept. 3 and welcome children of all religious backgrounds. It grew out of a home school designed for the Smith’s youngest kids Jaden, 9, and Willow, 7, who appears in Kit Kittredge: An American Girl.
“About 10 years ago, Jada and I started dreaming about the possibility of creating an ideal educational environment, where children could feel happy, positive and excited about learning,” said the Hancock star who recently defended his Scientologist friend Tom Cruise.
He added, “New Village Academy was born of a simple question: Is it possible to create an educational environment in which children have fun learning? Jada and I believe the answer is yes.”
A Hubbard-influenced teaching method called “study technology” will be applied. It focuses on hands-on experience, mastering a subject before moving on and not reading past words students don’t understand.
Among the reading, writing and ’rithmatic classes, the curriculum includes living skills, robotics, yoga, etiquette and technology. The school also has a no-sugar policy and encourages parents to limit their children’s television time.
Even Will Smith’s Kid Is Cool
Young Jaden Smith hasn’t even broken into double digits agewisehe’s 9 years oldand already the dude is smoother than most guys will be ever.
Check The Pursuit of Happyness star hanging with the Clique Girlz at the premiere of Kit Kittredge: An American Girl, and try not to think about what you were doing at 9.
Selena Gomez Checks Out Kit Kettredge
Selena Gomez Checks Out Kit Kettredge
Wizards of Waverly Place star Selena Gomez headed out to the red carpet on Saturday (June 14), posing for fans and photographers at the world premiere of “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” at The Grove in Los Angeles.
The rising Disney actress was there to get a early look at the drama based on the American Girl doll line, which stars Abigail Breslin and is due out in theaters on July 2, 2008.
In related news, Selena recently spoke to press about avoiding a Miley Cyrus Vanity Fair-like scandal by maintaining a pure lifestyle.
Gomez revealed that she told her father to buy her a promise ring so she can make an official virginity vow.
She tells: “He went to the church and got it (ring) blessed. He actually used me as an example for other kids. I’m going to keep my promise to myself, to my family and to God.”