Weekend US box office report: Funny People wins a weak weekend

In a pretty weak box office weekend, the combined forces of Rogen, Sandler, and Apatow could only manage $23.4 million in a chart-topping effort. The best of a pretty bad lot of films, the fact that Funny People made as much as it did is a testament to all parties involved, as the ads weren't particularly good at selling the film and a navel-gazing, dramedy is a tough sort of film to bow in the middle of the summer action season. That said, I thought it was a good film, even if it was a bit too long. (Read my full review here.)

Then again, Aliens In The Attic managed fifth place on $7.8 million and horror yarn The Collector fell outside the top ten on a $3.6 million weekend. Maybe it's not Funny People's fault, but the fault of an otherwise cool, nice summer for most of the US and a glut of huge releases taking folks' attention? Neither of the other two films grabbed viewer attention in their trailers, either.

Among the holdovers, Harry Potter And The Half-Blood Prince (second place, $17.7 million) managed to hold onto second place while G-Force (third place, $17.058 million) sank from first to third in another tight weekend of competition between the two of them. In some ways, it's a bit more of a surprising drop for G-Force as animated animal movies are pretty tough to kill in the summer, and the Potter Phenomenon is generally very front-loaded for one or two good weekends.

The Ugly Truth finds itself in fourth place this weekend, with $13 million in sales, which is kind of a big drop when you compare it to The Proposal (ninth place, $4.8 million) and how long that particular mismatched romantic comedy hung around the top of the weekend charts and how little audience it loses ever week. Likewise, when the underwhelming Orphan (see my review here) is able to bring in $7.25 million and capture sixth place and The Collector can't even place? That says a lot about people's lack of faith in the folks affiliated with the Saw franchise in 2009.

The Ice Age franchise continues to perform strongly, as does the Transformers series. Ice Age: Dawn Of The Dinosaurs landed in sixth place this weekend with a $7.25 million weekend, while Transformers: Revenge Of The Fallen landed in tenth with $4.6 million in box office receipts. It's always interesting to see what franchises stick with numbers and traditional franchise signals and which franchises get creative.

Speaking of creative, I got a chance to watch The Hangover (eighth place, $5.08 million) again. I was one of the many repeat viewers for the film, and I never see movies twice at the box office. In fact, I can't think of a time I've ever done that (as a paying customer anyway). It holds up just as well the second time. Hell, it might even be better because you notice more things! I can see why it's getting so much repeat business.

Next weekend, three films are looking to capture a little of The Hangover's magic. Julie And Julia, the Juila Child semi-bio picture, looks to whip up a delicious box office, while GI Joe: The Rise Of Cobra looks to shake off its horrible buzz and turn a profit (the initial response was awful, as was the trailer, but the word out of ComiCon is that it's not as bad as Transformers 2). The thriller A Perfect Escape also debuts next weekend, which looks to be the worst performer of the group. Unless, of course, GI Joe falls flat on its face.