Monday Morning Box Office: Foggy Bottom
Yes, it's Monday morning, and you're fighting the feeling that plunging your letter opener deep into your heart would be much less painful than the week ahead. Drown out the self-annihilating chatter with the weekend's box office numbers:
1. The Fog—$12.2 million
As screenings filled with a milky haze, audiences thought that clever studio promotional teams had rented fog machines to enhance their moviegoing experience. But delight turned to horror when they discovered that the "fog" billowing through the theaters was merely smoke rising from acutely disappointed patrons who had lit themselves on fire twenty minutes into the show.
2. Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit—$11.7 million
If you're not going to see family movies that actually seem to care about quality, you're just part of the problem. Kidnap three toddlers and spend a day supporting quality cinema.
3. Elizabethtown—$11 million
If director Cameron Crowe had not worked with Tom Cruise—twice, no less—Elizabethtown would probably have pulled in $45 million in its opening weekend.
4. Flightplan—$6.5 million
The resurgent Jodie Foster is again such a huge movie star that her handlers will likely pressure her to knock up a 24-year-old stud, just to keep up appearances.
5. In Her Shoes—$6.1 million
From the NY Times, insight into Cameron Diaz's process, courtesy of screen legend Shirley MacLaine: "Cameron used to spend the first hour of the rehearsal period talking about the problems she had getting out of her house and avoiding the photographers outside."
