Tron races to the top!

The Light Cycles danced within the Grid in enchanting bends of light as Tron: Legacy released at the #1 spot in US, as expected. How huge will it be? That is what the question really was. Well, it did better than last weekend's #1 movie, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader. But neither did it shatter the box-office as Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 did about a month back. To punch in the numbers, Tron: Legacy earned a robust $44 million at the US box-office in its opening weekend. These would have been good opening numbers for most of the movies, but with the production budget reported to be about $200 million, the distributor, Walt Disney Pictures, would be a tad disappointed with the opening. Hope the light will not fizzle out soon from this sci-fi flick. Warner Bros released their 3D flick of a completely different genre, Yogi Bear 3D, that grabbed the second place with $17 million. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader moved to third spot and has earned a meagre $43 million in its first 10 days at the US box-office, something that the first two movies of the Narnia series had managed in their opening 3 days itself! The Fighter had a wider release and moved to #4 place with the Golden Globe nominations for its leading actors and the Oscar buzz doing it no harm. But with 2010 drawing to a close, talks are already on for the much awaited releases of 2011. And the last week has been abuzz with trailer releases of some heavy summer flicks! For the lazy ones, do check out trailers of The Transformers 3, Thor and Pirates of the Caribbean 4. They are... to say the least... awesome!

Aslan fails to strike!

The weekend numbers have numbed the roar of Aslan. Though The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader topped the weekend charts at the US box office, its collection of $24 million is the lowest in the franchise yet, and to put in simple words – very disappointing! To put it in perspective, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe had grabbed $66 million during its opening weekend while even the disappointing sequel, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian had got in $55 million. The third movie of the franchise has not been able to cash in even half of the amount of its predecessor. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader would require a very strong international performance to make the studio earn decent profits. Right behind it was another disappointing performer for the weekend. The much awaited The Tourist starring Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie could also gather a lowly $17 million during the weekend, much below expectations. Both the leads have already starred in hit movies this year that have grossed more than $100 million at the US box office (Johnny Depp in Alice in Wonderland and Angelina Jolie in Salt). Compared to the success of those films, The Tourist may find it tough to hit the same heights. The third spot went to Tangled that became the sixth animation flick to hit the $100 million mark in the US. But compared with an astonishing reported production budget of $260 million (I still cannot believe it!), the movie’s revenues are expected to remain short. So overall the weekend has not produced anything grand, and maybe it would be upto Tron during the next weekend to show them how it is really done!

Back to the lands of Narnia

Roaaaarrrrrr! The growl of the magnificent lion, Aslan, scares away the evilest of the evil witches and warms the heart of the bravest of brave souls. In the lands of Narnia. And that is where the audience will be taken back this weekend. Not exactly in the lands, rather on the waters. The third movie of the Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, brings back two of the Pevensies, Edmund and Lucy, to the magical worlds where they had ruled once as Kings and Queens. In this adventure they join Prince Caspian on the ship Dawn Treader to locate seven lost lords of Narnia. With of course the ever-present Aslan to guide them, whenever required.

The first movie enactment of these tales of C.S. Lewis, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, was released in 2005 and turned to be such a huge success that it could have been easily compared with the Harry Potter saga at an initial glance. The movie grossed $292 million in the US and $749 million worldwide and easily paved the way for at least a trilogy. But things went wrong with the second film of the series, The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian. While the Pevensie siblings returned to Narnia to help Prince Caspian regain his rightful place as the King, the movie however lost its own way somewhere and could manage only about half of the revenues of its predecessor. A mediocre $142 million at the US box office and earnings of $420 million worldwide was deemed unsatisfactory on a production budget of $225 million and this made the distributors Walt Disney Pictures skeptical about the project. So when it came to tackle the third film in the series, Disney stepped away from the lands of Narnia and in came 20th Century Fox to carry the franchise forward.

The production budget is said to be $140 million for The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader and with it falls a grave responsibility on the shoulders of this movie. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis holds in totality seven tales, and for future projects to see the day of light, it would be imperative for the Dawn Treader to fight the tides and post in strong numbers. While a success similar to that of the first movie would be out of reach, numbers in line with the second could ensure more movie adaptations about the Narnian lands and its adventures. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader should take the top spot for the weekend at the US box office though as Tangled would enter its third week and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 would be in its fourth. All said and done, maybe more movies on Narnia should be made just to get another glimpse of the gigantic Aslan and the stirring voice behind it of Liam Neeson. Maybe there is still another roar left. Rooooaaaaaaarrrrrrr!

Tangled now leads the race...

The battle between Tangled and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 continued over the weekend. While the first round last weekend had been won by the young wizard, it was the Disney flick that grabbed the top spot this time round. With $21 million earned at the US box office during the weekend, Tangled is less than $4 million short of eclipsing the $100 million mark. The fall for Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 was steeper but its $16 million collection takes its US box office total to $244 million while its worldwide revenue collection exceeds $600 million for now, though there is still a lot more to come. With the release of the third movie in the Narnia series, The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader, during the coming weekend in US, there is bound to be direct competition to the the current top two movies and Tangled could well be off its top spot soon. For Aslan is about to return!