I can't say I'm too unhappy to see YES MAN take in less than $20 million for it's opening weekend, as some of you know and probably a lot more of you don't, I've had some problems with Danny Wallace on this site regarding this adaptation. Though to be fair to him the majority of the criticism of the adaptation of his book is more aimed at the writer and director of the film not really knowing what to do with the good concept and the movie therefore peetering out way to quickly. I'm also rather amused to see many of the reviewers compare it to LIAR LIAR, something I said from the first day Jim Carrey got attached to the project. And I'm also not surprised that the movie isn't going to do much to get Carrey out of the slump he is in right now. Though we shouldn't forget this is his first No. 1 hit since 2004, though even ME MYSELF AND IRENE made $24 million on it's first weekend in 2000.
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1 Yes Man (2008) $18.2M $18.2M 2 Seven Pounds (2008) $16M $16M 3 The Tale of Despereaux (2008) $10.5M $10.5M 4 The Day the Earth Stood Still (2008) $10.2M $48.6M 5 Four Christmases (2008) $7.75M $100M 6 Twilight (2008/I) $5.23M $158M 7 Bolt (2008) $4.26M $95M 8 Slumdog Millionaire (2008) $3.15M $12.1M 9 Australia (2008) $2.33M $41.9M 10 Quantum of Solace (2008) $2.15M $161M For Will Smith, it's rare we see him coming up second these days. Even THE PURSUIT OF HAPPYNESS, hardly the most marketable story in the history of cinema made $26.5 million over the same period two years ago and took the top spot. His second movie with the same director Gabriele Muccino, the very odd SEVEN POUNDS with a premise so bizarre it's hardly been marketed at all took a disappointing $16 million. To put this into perspective, no Will Smith starring vehicle has been seen by less people in it's opening weekend since THE LEGEND OF BAGGER VANCE in 2000. The past seven Will Smith movies have all gone on to make $100 million domestic at the box office, a Hollywood record actually, one which should come to an end with this film. Having seen the movie myself, it's hardly an audience winner though I have to say I think I rather enjoyed it more than I disliked it. It's a hard movie to have an opinion on really, some of it works really well and then other parts go into very strange depths. Upcoming Smith has potential further entries to HANCOCK and I AM LEGEND along with a new take on the Korean revenge story OLDBOY with Steven Spielberg. Gonna be very interesting seeing how Smith develops his career from here. The disappointing performance of both movies is being blamed on the snow storms across America and that we should have a better reflection on how well both movies are performing over the following few days. source - box office mojo