Pamela McClintock of Variety:
The weekend box office brought both victory and defeat as Universal’s “Hellboy II: The Golden Army” opened strongly on one end and 20th Century Fox/New Regency family laffer “Meet Dave” saw one of the worst opening grosses ever for an Eddie Murphy pic.
Beating holdover “Hancock,” filmmaker Guillermo del Toro’s “Golden Army” grossed an estimated $35.9 million from 3,204 runs to place No. 1 for the weekend on the strength of males and older moviegoers.
Will Smith topliner “Hancock” came in No. 2 in its second sesh, declining a slim 47% to an estimated $33 million from 3,965 runs for a cume of $165 million, according to Rentrak.
“Meet Dave” only placed No. 7 for the weekend, grossing an estimated $5.3 million from 3,011 screens. Pic, with a production budget of under $60 million is the second 2008 summer comedy to take a free-fall after Mike Myers’ “The Love Guru.” “Meet Dave” has three financing partners--New Regency, Fox and Dune Capital Management.
Finding some middle ground was New Line and Walden Media’s 3-D action-adventure “Journey to the Center of the Earth.” Pic came in No. 3 in its opening, grossing an estimated $20.6 million from 2,811 runs, a sizeable chunk of which came from higher-priced 3-D tickets. “Journey,” distributed by Warner Bros., is the widest test yet for the fledgling 3-D marketplace.
“Golden Army” easily outperformed the opening of the original “Hellboy,” which debuted to $23.2 million on its way to cuming $59 million domestically.
Among holdovers, Disney-Pixar’s “Wall-E” continued to please, dropping 43% in its third frame to come in No. 4 for the weekend. Pic grossed an estimated $18.5 million from 3,849 runs for a cume of $162. 8 million.
U’s “Wanted” placed No. 5 for the weekend, declining just 42% in its third frame to an estimated $11.6 million for a cume of $112 million.
A surprisingly resilient player is Warner comedy “Get Smart,” which declined just 36% in its weekend to an estimated $7.1 million from 3,086 runs for a cume of $111.5 million.
Aside from “Meet Dave,” the family market remained vibrant, with DreamWorks Animation and Paramount’s “Kung Fu Panda” staying on the top 10 chart. Toon declined 41% in its sixth sesh to an estimated $4.3 million rom 2,704 runs to jump the $200 million mark with a cume of $202 million.
Picturehouse’s girl pic “Kit Kittredge: An American Girl” came in No. 9 for the weekend, declining 29% to an estimated $2.3 million from 1,849 runs for a cume of $11 million.
Par’s “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull”--which has played like a family pic, despite being rated PG-13,” came in No. 10 for the frame, declining 40% to an estimated $2.2 million from 1,664 runs for a cume of $310 .5 million.
Joshua Rich of Entertainment Weekly:
Ron Perlman's sequel was No. 1, as ''Journey to the Center of the Earth'' thrived and ''Meet Dave'' crashed...
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Perhaps Dave Director Brian Robbins should move away from the family pic for a bit and try more teen/adult fare for a change.
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