Posted on 12/11/2006 3:06:39 PM PST by SirLinksalot
Gibson Delivers Another Box Office Win
Dec 10 10:36 PM US/Eastern
By DAVID GERMAIN AP Movie Writer
LOS ANGELES
Mel Gibson's bloody epic "Apocalypto" debuted as the No. 1 weekend movie, proving the filmmaker still can deliver a winner despite his drunken-driving arrest and anti-Semitic rant last summer.
"Apocalypto," a Disney release set in the Mayan civilization and told in an obscure Mayan language, opened with $14.2 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
It was a modest haul compared to the $83.8 million opening weekend of Gibson's last movie, the 2004 religious blockbuster "The Passion of the Christ," which went on to do $370 million domestically.
But "Apocalypto" overcame the baggage of Gibson's personal troubles as well as its difficult subject matter, which features a no-name cast in a hyper-violent tale that includes beheadings and images of hearts ripped from people's chests.
"The movie obviously succeeds on its own level. I think people probably are a bit on the surprised side around town that it's No. 1," said Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney. "Two months ago, nobody would have bet on that."
Sony's romance "The Holiday" debuted at No. 2 with $13.5 million. Directed by Nancy Meyers, the movie stars Cameron Diaz, Kate Winslet, Jack Black and Jude Law in the story of American and British women who swap homes for the holidays and find love in the process.
The Warner Bros. thriller "Blood Diamond," starring Leonardo DiCaprio, Jennifer Connelly and Djimon Hounsou, opened at No. 5 with $8.5 million. Set against Sierra Leone's civil war in the 1990s, the film follows a mercenary pursuing a rare diamond.
Also from Warner Bros., the holiday comedy "Unaccompanied Minors," about a group of kids run amok while stranded at an airport Christmas Eve, premiered at No. 6 with $6.2 million.
The Warner Bros. animated hit "Happy Feet" and Sony's James Bond adventure "Casino Royale," which had been the top-two movies for three-straight weekends, slipped to Nos. 3 and 4, respectively.
"Happy Feet" took in $12.7 million, raising its total to $137.7 million. "Casino Royale" grossed $8.8 million, lifting its total to $128.9 million.
The overall box office fell sharply, with the top-12 movies grossing $86.8 million, down 25 percent from the same weekend last year, when the blockbuster "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" opened with $65.6 million.
Disney reported that Gibson's "Apocalypto" drew solid crowds across- the-board, with movie-goers equally split between men and women and the core of the audience ranging from 18 to 45.
The publicity over Gibson's problems and his contriteness since last summer may have stoked interested in "Apocalypto," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
"Whenever I tell people I saw the movie, they'd be like, `You saw it? How was it?' There was a huge curiosity factor," Dergarabedian said. "A movie about Mayan civilization was never destined to be a big hit, let alone a No. 1 movie. But through Disney's marketing, which highlights Mel Gibson _ I believe they associated him very closely with the movie _ I think that strategy paid off."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "Apocalypto," $14.2 million.
2. "The Holiday," $13.5 million.
3. "Happy Feet," $12.7 million.
4. "Casino Royale," $8.8 million.
5. "Blood Diamond," $8.5 million.
6. "Unaccompanied Minors," $6.2 million.
7. "Deja Vu," $6.1 million.
8. "The Nativity Story," $5.6 million.
9. "Deck the Halls," $3.9 million.
10. "The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause," $3.3 million.
I didn't say it was going to turn a profit.
I'll see it when it comes out on DVD.
I would say none. However, both the Passion film, and the greatly under-rated The Patriot, do have Christian themes interwoven. In Passion it is explicitly Christian, in The Patriot it is much more in the background.
The worse moments of all of Mel's movies combined can not match some of the garbage that came out of CommieWeird and it's Euro clone cesspool
Robin Hood had lots of relax time and humor in it. I would rate it with Mel's other movie for violence and fast moving, "We were Soldiers".
His interests Passion included seem to tend torward revenge and/or martyrdom fantasies. Even in films he's merely acted in (Ransom, Payback, many other films where he gets tortured like Lethal Weapon and Conspiracy Theory). Even Hamlet is about revenge.
WWS was actually cowritten and directed by Randall Wallace...who wrote Braveheart.
The profound bonds between the members of a family.
How, without a church, greed and violence come to rule unchecked.
The necessity for the values of Western civilization.
The abomination of sacrifice of the innocent.
The need to value the aging when they are past their usefulness.
The requirement that freedom be defended--that righteousness does not mean lying down like a doormat.
The sinfulness of singling someone out for ridicule (Blunt, who is the brunt of everyone's practical jokes).
The scene where the village elder tells a story, of how man has an empty place inside him that can never be filled. A Christian would say it was a Jesus-shaped space and that it can be filled. But there are no Christians there, ergo no one to tell people how to fill up that space. The elder went as far as he could go with his wisdom.
There's probably a lot more too.
Regardless of how people feel about Mel Gibson, he is a damn good filmmaker.
Did you see it?
Yes, I saw the main theme of the movie as a conflict between a tribe of people who loved life versus a society that was spiraling into a death cult.
Amazes me so many conservatives are still embracing this man and this movie when Gibson said openly how he compares the fearmongering in this movie to "Bush and his guys".
***Why does he like doing these kinds of movies ??***
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Gibson's company, Icon, also had something to do with an excellent claymation retelling of the Christ story. Called "The Miracle Maker." I've got it. Very good indeed.
He also gives alot of that money away and helped the poverty stricken people in the town where he filmed build homes for many families...
Oooooooooo! That's gotta hurt the self-righteous prigs who were praying to whatever Satanic idol they worship that Gibson was finished. However despicable his outburst a few months ago was, he's ten times their superior on his worst day.
He's had plenty of non-blood-and-gore films.
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