So it seems that this week is the week of Natalie Portman. The woman just won a Golden Globe for her work in BLACK SWAN, and now that movie and her newest one, NO STRINGS ATTACHED, are both in the top ten.
Actually, NO STRINGS ATTACHED (the only new opening on Friday) was the number one movie this weekend, taking in $20.3 Million. It was Portman’s second highest grossing opening in a lead role, following V FOR VENDETTA, and right on par with Kutcher’s WHAT HAPPENS IN VEGAS, which opened with $20.2 Million.
Following in second was last week’s number one, THE GREEN HORNET, which took in another $18.1 million, down 46 percent from last weekend. The Kevin James/Vince Vaughn vehicle, THE DILEMMA dropped almost the same percentage (45%) to bring in only another $9.7 Million in it’s second week.
The next four movies on the list all seem to be in the Oscar club (THE KING’S SPEECH, TRUE GRIT, BLACK SWAN, THE FIGHTER). THE KING’S SPEECH impressively made almost exactly the same as last weekend, taking in another $9.2 Million. (Last week it made $9.1 Million.) BLACK SWAN came in sixth with another $6.2 million and a total of $83.6 million in just 52 days. Not bad for an Aronofsky character study…
As for next week, we continue with a bunch of January movies that don’t seem to hit any specific mark. In wide release, Anthony Hopkins comes out with his newest Hannibal Lecter-ish role in THE RITE, and Jason Statham and Ben Foster kiss ass and take names in their remake of THE MECHANIC. Also, you have the limited release of a spin on Jane Austen’s “Sense and Sensibility”, FROM PRADA TO NADA. We shall see if any of them could take the number one spot, or they’ll just be scattered throughout the order.