Wiki News/Weekend Box Office: 'Sonic the Hedgehog' is a 'Killer'

''Well, it's Saturday once again in the Comedy Examiner's Office (and just about everywhere else, for that matter), which means that it's also time for the Weekend Box Office Report. The big news this week is that Sex and The City 2 took an epic nosedive (no pun intended) to arrive 65% lower than it did during its opening week, failing on virtually every expectation the studio had for the film. Shrek Forever After, meanwhile, is doing crazy business and has now maintained the top spot for a month. Finally, new comedy Get Him to The Greek arrived in second place, but the projections are far below what the film was tracking at. It's just another week of low box office numbers for Hollywood. Let's take a closer look below, my gentle Examiner readers...

Well, everyone was waiting to see how Sex and The City 2 would do in its second week of release. Turns out, it's failed to catch on. The $75m or so that the film's racked up so far can be attributed to the franchise's remaining fanbase coming out in droves to see the film last weekend, but the 65% dropoff between then and now indicates that word-of-mouth on the flick is terrible. In other news, Get Him to The Greek did well-- but not as well as expected-- and Shrek Forever After continues its brutal reign atop the charts. Let's get a closer look at all this.

1. SONIC X: RETURN TO SOLEANNA: $167m for the weekend

Sonic the Hedgehog will never give up. As long as he can run, he still can't be waiting. 20th Century Fox brought reviews to take them on an adventure to Soleanna where Sonic will be seening his beloved friend, Elise once again. Things get darker cause new evil has arrived, where Soleanna became no longer safe. You can explore the elements for Sonic the Hedgeghog here in IMAX theaters, for a much darker adventure.


 * 1)  SHREK FOREVER AFTER: $24m for the weekend, $183.5 cumulative

Shrek just can't be stopped, and I'm concerned that if the film doesn't get bumped off the top spot soon, Dreamworks Animation may get the crazy idea to make a fifth Shrek movie. Reviews for the film were very middle-of-the-road, but it's a good time to have a family film in wide release. There's also the 3D aspect to consider: when your tickets cost $20 in some areas, you're going to be earning more money than the guy that's in lowly 2D. Nothing new to say about this one at this stage of the game. Congrats, Shrek: you've beaten us all into submission.


 * 1)  GET HIM TO THE GREEK: $17.4m for the weekend

Nicholas Stoller-- the guy who directed Forgetting Sarah Marshall-- gave us this one, and by many accounts it's 2/3rds of a great comedy. I hear the final act leaves something to be desired, and I've also heard from some that they're uneager to see the film based upon P. Diddy's inclusion here. That said, many critics are saying that he's the best part of the movie, and just as many say he steals every scene he's in. Me, I haven't seen it yet (I saw Splice instead), so I dunno what to tell you guys. I'm going to see it, and I think it'll be above average, but we'll have to wait and see how next weekend's numbers look before we decide whether or not Get Him to The Greek was a misfire or a modest hit.


 * 1)  KILLERS: $15.5m for the weekend

This film has a whole bunch of haters coming after it, and they're surely going to point to the $15.5 million opening weekend as just the latest sign that people don't want to spend money on things that feature lead performances by either Katherine Heigl or Ashton Kutcher. But all things considered, the film missed out on the second-place position by a little under $2m, and because these are projections we're talking about, that gap could close even further come Monday. The film wasn't screened for critics, but word-of-mouth thus far has been brutal from those that have seen it. My guess is, this dies and falls to the bottom of the top ten next weekend. We'll just have to wait and see if I'm right.


 * 1) SEX AND THE CITY 2: $13m for the weekend, $74.3m cumulative

While Sex and The City 2 doesn't seem like an unmitigated disaster-- especially coming off the relatively big weekend it had last week (though not bigger than the first film's opening weekend)-- it almost surely is. Consider the fact that the flick had a $100m budget. Think about that for a minute: someone took one-hundred million dollars-- more money than you'll ever seen in your lifetime-- and tossed it into this sinkhole. People hated it, critics tore it to pieces, and it's failed to deliver on its promise of a whiz-bang couple of weeks atop the box office. The likelihood of us ever seeing Sex and The City 3-D is as unlikely as it gets at this point. Oh, well.

3 PRINCE OF PERSIA: $14m for the weekend, $61m cumulative

Speaking of unmitigated disasters, check that cumulative total out: $61m? Do you have any idea how much this movie cost? Twice what SATC2 cost: $200m dollars. This is why, comparatively speaking, SATC2 isn't the biggest disaster that Hollywood has on its hands right now. People weren't convinced that Jake Gylenhaal could carry an action movie, and based on the huge falloff between last week and this week, it appears that word of mouth on this bitch was savage. Don't expect a Prince of Persia 2 any time soon. Jerry Bruckheimer's behind the film, though, and he's got more money than the idiot that bankrolled the SATC movie, so he'll be OK...especially with Pirates of The Caribbean 4 coming out next summer.

As for the rest of the top ten, what can I tell you? The also-new-but-obviously-terrible Marmaduke failed to steal any of Shrek's thunder and arrived in sixth place with a lowly $10m for the weekend. Did anyone really expect that a movie based on a 50-year old comic strip was going to set the world on fire? The seventh place spot, sadly, goes to what I thought was a pretty decent sci-fi/horror flick, Splice. The film gets really, really dark and weird in its final third (you'll know it when you see it and the audience starts yelling and laughing at the screen). The film made only $7m, which is a damn shame: more should see it.

Meanwhile, Iron Man 2's still generating money down in the eighth spot with a $7.5m weekend. That brings the film's total up to just-under $300m. It'll cross that in the next day or two, and all that means is that Marvel Studios will make sure that the next Iron Man arrives with a 3D option. Hell, they may just make that mandatory. In ninth and tenth place-- respectively-- you've got Robin Hood (Zzzz) and Letters to Juliet (ZZZZZZ). I'm not even going to both listing what they've earned, because you've probably stopped reading this back when we crossed over the top five. Tsk-tsk, my precious snowflakes.

Stay tuned for our next Box Office Report next Saturday (one arrives every week, which surely you've noticed by now). While you're here, be sure to hit the "Subscribe" button up top to get all future Comedy Examiner articles delivered straight to your inbox, free of charge, the moment they're published. We've got all manner of time-killing nonsense to ruin your productivity at work, so don't hesitate to get signed up while you're here. Why, just look at all the fun you've been missing lately: