- from THR

Disney’s family adventure “Race to Witch Mountain” raced to the top of the box office chart, beating Warner Bros. holdover “Watchmen.” Starring Dwayne Johnson and directed by Andy Fickman, “Witch Mountain”–a remake of the classic franchise–grossed $25 million from 3,187 theaters. “Watchmen” dropped a hefty 67% from its opening weekend, grossing an estimated $18.1 million from 3,611 runs in its second sesh for a 10-day cume of $86 million. – from Variety

The Watchmen stormed into the theaters with a respectable, but not great, $55.7 million take this weekend. With its 163 minute running time, the film had a smaller than normal number of showings, handicapping it a bit. Most analysts has pegged the film to fall anywhere from $65-55 million, so the final number is in the low range of expectations. Reviews have been mixed – some really wonderful, some downright bad.

In other news, the big surprise is how far the Jonas Brothers fell – all the way to 9th – with less than $3 million at the box office. Taken continues to perform well, with legs that most films would kill for. Madea, Slumdog and Paul Blart round out the top five. Blart, Coraline and He’s Just Not That Into You are winding down their box office runs. Paul Blart, along with Slumdog, Madea, Taken and He’s Just Not That Into You will all likely hit the $100 million mark (He’s Just Not That Into You may not, but it’ll get to $90 million), and all are solid to great hits since they weren’t big budget productions.

Back to Watchmen – the future will in interesting. Will people come back for more? Will word of mouth bring in the curious? Personally, we don’t think the film will have the legs to be a big hit. It cost $150 million to make, and marketing costs are reportedly more than $60 million. With overseas revenues, the film will likely make its money back, but there are serious doubts if this will be a certified hit.

Finally, next week watch for Race to Witch Mountain and Last House on the Left. If Race to Witch Mountain gets solid reviews and word of mouth, it could be the next big hit.

Here’s this week’s numbers:

Watchmen – $55.7M – $55.7M
Madea Goes to Jail – $8.8M – $76.5M
Taken – $7.45M – $118M
Slumdog Millionaire – $6.92M – $125M
Paul Blart: Mall Cop – $4.2M – $134M
He’s Just Not That Into You – $4.02M – $84.6M
Coraline – $3.31M – $65.7M
Confessions of a Shopaholic – $3.12M – $38.4M
Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience – $2.79M – $16.8M
Fired Up! – $2.6M – $13.4M

Watchmen,” an unorthodox superhero movie that took two decades to reach the big screen, took the No. 1 spot at the weekend box office in North America on Sunday, but fell a little short of expectations.

- from Reuters

There’s only one new film in wide release, the much-anticipated Watchmen. Expect it to clean up, with holdovers Madea, Slumdog Millionaire and the Jonas Brothers following in its wake (in that order, we predict). Taken, He’s Just Not That Into You and Paul Blart should continue taking in $4-5 million. Coraline may as well, but its 50%+ drop probably indicates that it’s days are coming to a close. Predictions on Watchmen are as high as $70 million – after that is anyone’s guess.

Watchmen - this adaptation from the Alan Moore/Dave Gibbons graphic novel is falling all over the spectrum with regards to reviews. Most are praising its vision and style, but as for story, it’s a mixed bag. This is not a Dark Knight-type film, and the casual viewer will likely come away a bit disappointed in the whole affair. Fans of the graphic novel will probably appreciate the film. Most know that the challenge it is to bring something like this to the screen and will be forgiving. Still, expect lots of diverging opinions on the film (as we are seeing from critics).

“In a sense, I’m putting my reputation on the line,” he says. “I’m very happy with the way it’s been done and I believe the reaction will be overwhelmingly positive. I think at the end of the day I’m not going to have egg on my face.” The illustrator put his name on the film but his collaborator, writer Alan Moore (“V for Vendetta,” “From Hell”) isn’t associated with the project. It’s not that Moore has an issue with this particular production; according to Gibbons, he’s given up on Hollywood altogether. “He wants nothing more to do with the movie business,” says Gibbons, who worked with Moore on such other titles as “Future Shocks,” “Mogo Doesn’t Socialize” and the Superman chronicle, “For the Man Who Has Everything.” Gibbons keeps in touch with Moore. “He’s happy to talk to me but he won’t talk about ‘Watchmen,’” he says. – From NJ.com

NRAMA: How do you think the fans will react to the film being as vocal as they’ve been?

JEH: The film is amazing. Just knowing the script and Zack’s faithfulness and where a motion picture needs to be, I’m feeling really confident about it. Not from a ‘what I did’ standpoint, but from what Zack and his team did – his whole approach and everything we’ve seen. I think it’s going to live up to fan expectations, and people are going to find a really kind of interesting approach to comic books. I think it’s got this awesome entertainment element, an addiction element and also got some really thought provoking elements to put this on a different level than normal comic book films. I really hope it does for comic book movies what the original Watchmen comic books did for the comic book world. I think it’s a brave piece and people are going to respond and dig it. I’m totally sucked into it.

Check out the World in Conflict: Soviet Assault – Destruction Blues II trailer. This looks pretty damned cool – and it’s got a really funky music track.

Gibson tried to sue Guitar Hero for “technology for simulating a musical performance” – whatever that means. Well, it’s tossed. Thank god. Like we need more stupid ass lawsuits.

Tenchu: Shadow Assassins is coming to PSP on March 24.

The King of Fighters XII is set for PlayStation 3 this summer. Great seeing some hand drawn stuff. Trailer below:

The bad news about “Watchmen” is that it grinds and squelches on for two and a half hours, like a major operation. The good news is that you don’t have to stay past the opening credit sequence—easily the highlight of the film. – from TNY