'Howl' Box Office: Not Too Shabby

In its opening, limited engagement at 42 theaters, HOWL'S MOVING CASTLE brought in a very respectable per-screen average of $11,720, tops among limited bows, for a total of $420,000. That's not scorching hot, but it was the second highest per-screen...

Storms of Different Kinds

The expected titans dominated the box office (STAR WARS, MADAGASCAR, LONGEST YARD), but our man Jet Li's UNLEASHED did not fare too badly, dropping 49% in its third weekend and demonstrating a little resilience. The flick has accumulated $22.1 million...

'Unleashed' Swamped

In the battle for box office bucks left over from STAR WARS, our man Jet Li did not fare too well. UNLEASHED, his best Hollywood-style movie ever, dropped 64.8% in its second weekend of release, for a cumulative total of...

'Unleashed' Performs

UNLEASHED finished in third place based on early weekend returns. Averaging $5,270 per screen, it accumulated $10.3 million, trailing comedies MONSTER-IN-LAW and KICKING AND SCREAMING, both of which played on many more screens than Jet Li's latest. KUNG FU HUSTLE...

Swing Low, Sweet 'Hustle'

Below the noise generated by the box office win by THE HITCHHIKER'S GUIDE TO THE GALAXY (a film I entered with zero expectations and found to be delightfully amusing) over the sequel XXX: STATE OF THE UNION, you need to...

'Kung Fu' Stumble?

During its first two weeks of limited release in New York and Los Angeles, KUNG FU HUSTLE played like gangbusters, with nary a drop-off the second week. Sony Pictures Classics had already planned on rolling it out on more than...

Ready, Set, 'Hustle'

In its second weekend of limited release, Stephen Chow's KUNG FU HUSTLE earned nearly $38,000 per screen for a total of $264,000. Its cumulative gross is $639,000, according to Box Office Mojo. Amazingly, the per-screen average is down just 1.9%...

The Triumph of Chow (Con't.)

The reason KUNG FU HUSTLE's per-screen total of more than $38,000 was so good is that only seven theaters in New York and Los Angeles were booked. The film will go wide on April 22; the positive word-of-mouth will only...

The Triumph of Chow

Read all about it at Movie City News. Congratulations to Stephen Chow and distributor Sony Pictures Classics. More later -- I'm in a different state that is very far from the American coastline and not feeling very Asian this past...

'Sin' Pays Off

Out of the Top 10 box office grossers for this past weekend, we can single out two that are of interest to Asian film fans. SIN CITY looks like nothing before it, thanks to the digital filmmaking processes involved. Most...

Box Office Gross

OLDBOY (Tartan Films) may be grossing some people out, but in the monetary sense, it pulled in a very nice $61,000 at five theaters in New York and Los Angeles. The per-screen average is a bit less than THE BALLAD...

'Godfathers' On Way Out

Box Office Mojo tracked 107 movies in release this past weekend in the United States. TOKYO GODFATHERS finished #66, earning $18,530 for a per-screen average of $1,853. In other words, if it's playing in your city, don't delay in checking...