Dec 30 2008
Pitt Feels Aniston’s Bite At Box Office
Owen Wilson and Jennifer Aniston- along with Marley- sprinted to the top of the box office this past weekend. Since opening Christmas Day, the PG-rated film has earned nearly $60 million. (picture courtesy of Fox/Reuters)
Jenn beats Brad! Angelina, summon Lara Croft and come to your beau’s box office rescue!
Yes, many media outlets focused on Jennifer Aniston’s latest flick beating out ex-hubby Brad Pitt’s. Aniston’s Marley & Me- based on the bestselling book about a couple and their Labrador retriever- grossed $36.4 million from 3,480 U.S. and Canadian theaters this past weekend ($58.2 million since opening Christmas Day). In the opposite corner, Pitt’s costly, 167-minute-long The Curious Case of Benjamin Button- a $150 million effort about a man who ages in reverse- pulled in $26.9 million from 2,988 theaters (for a five-day total of $43.7 million).
Pitt’s movie- which is expected to fare well when Oscar nominations are announced- performed more than respectably against Marley, but wouldn’t it have been more of a sensationalistic matchup had Angelina Jolie’s latest movie opened against Aniston’s? Granted, it wouldn’t have been much of a competition- Marley grossed more in its first weekend than Jolie’s Changeling has grossed since opening in October ($35.55 million).
Of course, Marley has a large advantage over Changeling (and Benjamin Button) in that it’s a family-friendly, mainstream vehicle- but, still, Aniston should take solace in her commercial victory, as the whole Pitt-Jolie love affair still is causing her tabloid headaches.
While many box office watchers focused on The Battle of the Exes, Adam Sandler continued his critic-proof ways, as his latest feature opened in second place over the weekend. Bedtime Stories earned $27.5 million, and has pulled in $44.4 million since its Christmas debut. Coming in fourth over the holiday weekend was Tom Cruise’s risky Valkyrie, which focuses on a plot to assassinate Adolf Hitler. The film- which took in $21 million ($33.6 million in its first five days)- will sail past the $44.5 million that Cruise’s ex Nicole Kidman’s Australia has grossed since opening last month.
Who will be the next pair of exes to square off at the box office? One recent, much-talked-about Hollywood split likely won’t result in a scuffle at multiplexes: Madonna is done attempting to act in films, and her directorial debut Filth and Wisdom received little attention; and Guy Ritchie’s film career has produced more domestic duds than hits.
Guess we’ll have to wait for the next Reese Witherspoon and Ryan Phillippe feature films to get a good, old-fashioned Box Office Battle of the Exes.
