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Memorial Day box office sluggish as 'Museum' opens strong but 'Terminator' struggles

The healthy box office seemed to lose its mojo over Memorial Day.

Overall ticket sales for the weekend rose only 2% from last year,according to Hollywood.com, a big downward shift in a year where thetotal is up more than 14%.

"Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian" grossed a healthy $70 million over the four days, while "Terminator Salvation" came in at a relatively weak $53.8 million. However, combined, they barely matched the opening of "Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull" last year, leading to virtually flat total sales for the industry.

The opening of Fox's family sequel was right in line with estimates based on pre-release tracking and a solid figure given its $125-million production budget, after Canadian tax rebates. However, its $50.1-million gross in 93 foreign markets was less impressive compared with other movies that have opened simultaneously worldwide this year. That's an early indication it may not mirror the performance of the original, which made more money overseas than in the U.S. and Canada.

Family films tend to hold on very well at the box office, but "Smithsonian" will face significant competition   Friday from Disney and Pixar's "Up," which is pursuing the same audience.

"Terminator" paled next to other big summer action movies like "Wolverine" and "Star Trek" and didn't even match the opening weekend of "Terminator 3" six years ago. The $200-million movie started relatively well Thursday but quickly lost momentum. That's a sign of weak word of mouth and should leave Warner Bros. and The Halycon Co., which financed the film, concerned that it will decline rapidly in the coming weeks.

"Salvation's" hopes now rest largely on international markets, where Sony Pictures will launch the film next week.

"Dance Flick" did decent business for a low-budget spoof comedy, grossing $13.1 million through Monday on its opening weekend.

Here's the domestic box-office top 10 chart for the weekend based on studio estimates and data from Hollywood.com. While all grosses are over four days, percentage drops are based on the Friday-Sunday receipts so that the comparison with last weekend is fair.

1. "Night at the Museum: Battle for the Smithsonian" (Fox): Opened to a healthy $70 million for the four-day weekend. Overseas its performance was less impressive, as it debuted to $50.1 million in 93 countries.

2. "Terminator Salvation" (Warner Bros.): Its four-day gross of $53.8 million was a soft launch for a $200-million summer event film. The total gross since Thursday is $67.2 million. Sony opens the film internationally in two weeks.

3. "Star Trek" (Paramount): Continuing to post relatively modest declines, it fell 47% and grossed $29.4 million through Monday. Domestic total (19 days): $191 million. International total: $87.5 million.

4. "Angels and Demons" (Sony): Grossed $27.7 million on its second weekend, down 53%. Foreign grosses continue to be big, though the figures for U.S. and Canada are not. Domestic total (11 days): $87.8 million. International total: $198.3 million.

5. "Dance Flick" (Paramount): Opened to $13.1 million, about what was expected.

6. "X-Men Origins: Wolverine" (Fox): Grossed $10.1 million, down 46%. Domestic total (25 days): $163.4 million. International total: $156.7 million.

7. "Ghosts of Girlfriends Past" (Warner Bros. / New Line): $4.8 million, down 43%. Domestic total (25 days): $47 million.

8. "Obsesssed" (Sony / Screen Gems): $2.5 million, down 57%. Domestic total (32 days): $66.4 million.

9. "Monsters vs. Aliens" (Paramount / DreamWorks Animation): $1.9 million, down 55%. Domestic total (60 days): $193.5 million.

10. "17 Again" (Warner Bros. / New Line): $1.3 million, down 70%. Domestic total (39 days): $60.6 million.

-- Ben Fritz

Photo: Christian Bale and Sam Worthington in "Terminator Salvation." Credit: Warner Bros.

'Jon & Kate' plus controversy: The new season begins

One question hanging over “Jon & Kate Plus 8” (8 p.m. Central Monday, TLC) is whether the recent tabloid scandals about Jon and Kate Gosselin will actually help the show’s ratings. 

“Jon & Kate,” which is entering its fifth season, chronicles the lives of the Pennsylvania couple and their large brood, which consists of 8-year-old twins and 5-year-old sextuplets. Cute as the kids are, they’ve mostly been a footnote in the recent media stories about the couple; far more attention has been focused on Jon and Kate’s denials of their alleged infidelities.

In a clip from the season premiere, Jon looks glum, to put it mildly.

“I’m just all over the place,” he says in a distracted monotone. “Kate and I obviously have been going through a lot of stuff.”

Many people will be tuning in Monday to see how the show deals with that “stuff” (and the show will reflect recent events to some degree, thus TLC was not able to provide full episodes for review). And how are the kids faring amid all this drama? That’s another big question.

The previous season finale of “Jon & Kate” drew 4.6 million viewers for TLC, confirming the show’s status as a sizable hit by cable standards. If I had to guess, I would say the ratings won’t significantly go down, and may increase, thanks to the couple’s new level of notoriety.

Jon and Kate’s passive-aggressive bickering has long been one of the show’s main draws, and by this point, I would argue that their rocky relationship is more of a draw than the kids. This show would not be as big as it isâ€"and the Gosselins would not present such tempting targets for certain elements of the mediaâ€"if it were titled “Jon & Kate Get Along Great.”

Over the years, I've watched the show at the urging of readers and friends. The pitch was always a variation of, "Have you ever seen 'Jon & Kate'? She's so mean to him!" 

The show was never my cup of tea, though, because the sightâ€"or rather the soundâ€"of several children having meltdowns at once isn’t exactly relaxing. But one person’s anxiety-inducing scenario is another’s escapism, and, the truth is, there is a certain voyeuristic fascination in watching Jon and Kate snipe at each other. 

It’s easy to paint Kate as the villain of the piece, and many seemed eager to do that well before the couple’s recent troubles. Kate is certainly an exacting micro-manager, and it’s not easy to warm to someone who, in an old episode of the show, interrupted her husband to bark, “I’m sorry, can you stop breathing so loud?”

But don’t we all wonder how the world would view us if cameras followed us around all day? Who among us can say we haven’t shouted at or become irritable with family members? For years, Jon and Kate have had cameras catching every bad moment, every spat and every meltdown. That, combined with the demands of raising eight children, would make anyone twitchy.

It’s no wonder Kate seems to become even more tightly wound and Jon more resigned with each passing season. And with each season, the show’s ratings have grown.

In any case, what was once an unassuming reality show about an unusual family now seems something else. One clip from Season 5 shows TV chef Emeril Lagasse cooking in the Gosselins’ kitchen. There’s an attempt to make it all jovial, but the scene feels forced.

At one point, Kate hits Emeril with a spatula.

Jokingly! Ha ha ha!

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