*All historical figures cited are adjusted to today’s dollars.
The internet had been buzzing for weeks. Would the fact that he spent most of the decade in straight to video titles hurt his box office clout. Did Dolph Lundgren still have the box office muscle we all thought he had or did the lackluster performance of “Direct Contact”, “Hidden Agenda” and “The Mechanik” cause too much irreparable damage? We have our answer this weekend as “The Expendables” tops the chart with $35.0 million.
Some had speculated that since Dolph hadn’t appeared in a single film that hit theaters since his role as “Street Preacher” in “Johnny Mnemonic” that nobody would care about him punching people in the face and killing them anymore. I’m sorry we ever doubted you Dolph. He is now solely responsible for the sixth biggest Lionsgate debut of all time (biggest non-Madea, non-“Saw”). Word of mouth is likely to be atrocious as it seems he wasn’t able to deliver on the early Oscar promise of the project. A steep drop awaits next week but maybe now the Lundgren haters will stay in their place.
“Eat Pray Love” takes second place with $23.7 million. Readers suggested I went over the line making fun of this film and the women who might like it so I’ll let the numbers speak for themselves here.
We’re only a day in, but the star of Comic-Con so far, if it isn’t Scott Pilgrim, has to be Sylvester Stallone. The muscle-bound action star hit Hall H yesterday with a few scenes from his new film