NORBIT tops box-office

How lame has the box-office been since Christmas? Well, let's just say that Ben Stiller's NIGHT AT THE MUSEUM was released around that time, and 2 months later, it's still in the friggin' top 5! That's right, crappy films have come and gone and nobody seems to be able to take the wind out of Stiller's sails, or for that matter, nobody seems to be able to truly enthrall American audiences during the first 2 months of the New Year. Except Eddie Murphy's NORBIT?!? That's right, folks, audiences apparently love watching black comedians dress up in fat women's outfits, as Murphy continues to prove to the world his reasoning behind making these lame-ass comedies (pssst, they make money!!!!!!).

But even Murphy couldn't help the 2007 box-office debacle, as revenues continued to drop for the 6th weekend in a row (surprise, surprise), as compared to last year's numbers. NORBIT did manage the year's biggest opening so far, but is that really saying anything with all the shit releases being aborted by the studios so far this season? Me thinks not. The film was Murphy's 14th #1 movie, despite being killed by most critics. Eddie Murphy's "other film", DREAMGIRLS, is also hanging in the top 10 and almost to the $100M mark. Guillermo del Toro's PAN'S LABYRINTH also continues its presence in the top 10 and is closing in on the $30M mark (and only dropped 3% of its audience from last weekend). The weekend's other new release, HANNIBAL RISING, managed a decent opening with a little over $13M.

Next week's new movies should lean into the box-office a little more than all of the others so far this year, with two pretty big movies opening for the Valentine's weekend, including a very odd choice for this "week of love" in GHOST RIDER, which is receiving tons of bad buzz so far, as well as MUSIC AND LYRICS, starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore doing their "romantic thang". The other releases include the latest from Tyler Perry entitled DADDY'S LITTLE GIRLS, as well as something called BRIDGE TO TERABITHIA from Disney (worst title of the year so far, by a long shot!) and BREACH, a thriller almost nobody has heard of, starring goofball Ryan Phillippe.

With the release of our annual Golden Schmoes Nominations today, I thought we'd get a little sample reading of your tastes, so we're asking you what film you think will win the top prize at this year's ceremonies. What movie do you think will win 'Best Picture' at this year's Golden Schmoes? VOTE HERE!!!

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