U.K. box office: ‘Marley & Me’ still top dog

Thu, Mar 26, 2009

Puppies!

1. Marley & Me: £2.2 million (2nd week; drops 51%)
2. Paul Blart: Mall Cop: £1.3 million (NEW)
3. Duplicity: £.8 million (NEW)
4. Lesbian Vampire Killers: £.6 million (NEW)
5. Watchmen: £.6 million (3rd week; drops 58%)

(actual numbers, not estimates)
Okay, so the language of moist noses and wagging tails and unconditional love is universal. I think we already knew that.

I’m a tad surprised to see that Paul Blart did as well as it did, considering that the protagonist’s surname is, in Britain, a not-very-polite euphemism for a portion of the female anatomy. Then again, maybe that was a selling point, not a disadvantage. Next up: Michael Cunt: School Crossing Guard. Guaranteed to be a smash hit!

Lesbian Vampire Killers worked, after all: near as I can tell, it’s Shaun of the Dead with a naughtier name (and probably an overall dumber outlook, too). I’ll post the trailer tomorrow, and we’ll all see.

Watchmen took a second huge tumble, just as it did in the U.S. Geez, does no one enjoy a good movie about looming nuclear armageddon and humanity being made obsolete by irradiated godlike supermen? What’s wrong with people, anyway?

It appears, that, that just as in North America, the steam has run out of the box-office boom that we’ve been seeing since the beginning of the year: overall business is down 42 percent over the same weekend last year. As in the U.S., perhaps everyone — studios and audiences alike — is taking a breather before the summer blockbuster season.

[numbers via UK Film Council]

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Mark

Thu, Mar 26, 2009 4:45pm

Geez, does no one enjoy a good movie about looming nuclear armageddon and humanity being made obsolete by irradiated godlike supermen.

Hey, point me to one and I’ll watch it with glee. Unfortunately, we have Watchmen instead.

Count Shrimpula

Thu, Mar 26, 2009 6:08pm

Next up: Michael Cunt: School Crossing Guard. Guaranteed to be a smash hit!

All right, Paul Blart looks horrible, but I would so go to see this.

RogerBW

patron

Fri, Mar 27, 2009 7:06am

While I don’t disbelieve the slang definition, it’s not London slang, and “London and the places near it” make up about 1/3 of the population of the UK.