Since Luke is out covering the Sundance Film Festival, seeing great movies and partying with celebrities as we speak, it looks like I’ll fill in on the box office update today. Long story short: We’re still stuck in the January doldrums, where crappy movies reign.
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After sitting out the third franchise entry, Kate Beckinsale donned the slinky leather catsuit once again for ‘Underworld Awakening<\/strong>‘. That seems to have been enough to bring out the fanboys and satisfy January audiences. The vampires-versus-werewolves sequel dominated the weekend with a $25.4 million opening. <\/p>\n Not too far behind this, and beating most analysts’ estimates, George Lucas’ scathingly-reviewed WWII dogfight action flick ‘Red Tails<\/strong>‘ came in second place with $19.1 million. Expect both of these movies to stall out and plummet in the coming weeks. <\/p>\n Audiences were apparently none too impressed with the trailers for Steven Soderbergh’s first action movie, ‘Haywire<\/strong>‘. Despite mostly positive reviews, the film debuted in fifth place with an underwhelming $9 million. It seems unlikely to build much traction from this point. Serves Soderbergh right for casting Channing Tatum, if you ask me. Hopefully, this will scuttle the director’s plans to make that memoir movie about Tatum’s experiences as a male stripper. (Yes, this is a real thing<\/a>.)<\/p>\n Last week’s top dog, ‘Contraband<\/strong>‘, fell about 50% to third place with $12.2 million, which falls much in line with expectations. Hey Mark, say hi to your mutha for me.<\/p>\n Hoping to capitalize on awards season buzz, a couple of limited-release films expanded wider this weekend. The 9\/11 drama ‘Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close<\/strong>‘ did the better of the two with $10.5 million. Chalk that up to the star power of Tom Hanks and Sandra Bullock. <\/p>\n