box office

Bad films and politics are keeping people from the movies

If the goal for 'Need For Speed' was to replicate the success of the 'Fast and Furious' films, then the film's opening weekend is not promising. Opening in third place, the video game adaptation was overtaken by two of last week's releases, making this potential franchise D.O.A.

It's another big weekend at the cineplex, with the return of one of the most famous superheroes of all time, plus an end-of-the-world story about a bunch of stoners played by actors playing themselves. Should be fun whichever path you take.

What looked like one of the big box office showdowns of the summer turned out to not be battle at all. Not only did 'Fast and Furious 6' take the number one spot at the box office, it did it while shattering records, leaving 'The Hangover Part 3' coughing on its exhaust.

Some will call this a slow weekend, but it may be better to think of it as the calm before the storm. Next week, the summer movie season begins and people are saving their pennies for 'Iron Man 3,' so it's not really surprising that this was an uneventful couple of days at the multiplex. At least the folks behind 'Pain and Gain' can be glad that their film led an otherwise quiet weekend.

'Iron Man 3' may not have opened in the United States yet, but it's already a smash hit overseas, earning more money in its opening weekend than 'The Avengers' did. There's a reason why movie studios are starting to think internationally when it comes to their blockbusters -- people in other countries want to see these movies just as much as Americans and a successful international release can dou

Tom Cruise and science fiction are a powerful combination. Although the opening weekend of 'Oblivion' didn't break any records big or small, it's a more than solid start for a non-franchise, non-sequel, non-reboot. That's a sad statement on the current state of Hollywood, but that's another topic for another day.

You can't imagine two films more different than 'The Croods' and 'Olympus Has Fallen,' but right now the two of them sit on top of the box office chart, both temporarily linked by the fact that a bunch of people apparently wanted to see them this weekend. It's the first time in forever that two films have opened to over $30 million at the same time...but it wasn't golden for all of the new release

After a series of increasingly dire weeks at the box office, 'Oz the Great and Powerful' arrived and shook things up in a major way, earning the first truly massive opening weekend of 2013 and setting the table for all kinds of Oz-related content in the near future. Whether that's a good thing or a bad thing is something that we'll let you judge.

'Jack the Giant Slayer' may have taken the number one spot at the box office, but no one is celebrating -- it may sit at the top, but it sits at the top of one of the weakest box office weekends since, well, last weekend.