Jerry Seinfeld Finally Takes His Animated Bees To Number One
As your Hollywood employer has probably decided that this Veterans Day doesn't warrant the show of respect of a day off (strike-related layoffs notwithstanding), celebrate the sacrifices of those who've served our country in the most meaningful way available to you: by observing a moment of silence as you review the weekend's box office numbers:
1. Bee Movie - $26 million
Jerry Seinfeld has performed so many acts of promotional heroism (such as staring into the cold, dead eyes of the world's worst-prepared interviewer and emerging with his sanity intact) in trying to raise the public's awareness of Bee Movie that we'd almost forgotten the daring stunt that kicked off his journey: that death-defying high-wire act at Cannes that easily could have ended in tragedy for either the comedian or his studio stunt-mogul had their ziplines snapped or harnesses failed, sending them to a grisly—but well-publicized—demise in front of thousands of international movie fans on that resort-town beach. After the jump, relive the historic Flight Of The World's Richest Bumblebee:
2. American Gangster - $24.319 million
While former Harlem drug kingpin Nicky Barnes thought Cuba Gooding Jr. did the best he could with an underwritten part, he still had enough issues with his portrayal as a too-minor character in American Gangster that he decided to phone in some complaints from an undisclosed location in the witness protection program. Barnes did, however, refrain from griping that superproducer Brian Grazer couldn't convince Universal to put up the money to get Don Cheadle for the supporting role, greatly increasing the chances of an Oscar nomination.
3. Fred Claus - $19.225 million
What happened? Reimagining a four-year old Christmastime blockbuster with a watered-down, family friendly Vince Vaughn seemed like such a no-brainer for the holiday season. Perhaps there are only so many "normal-sized person having difficulty sleeping in a tiny elf-bed" jokes the moviegoing public will pay to see.
4. Lions For Lambs - $6.71 million
We're willing to hold off asking the uncomfortable question of whether or not Tom Cruise still qualifies as a movie star until the release of Valkyrie, as the extent of the audience's willingness to embrace the actor while borrowing Hitler's haircut seems like it will provide a more accurate indication of his box office viability than watching him play smarmy in a talky political drama.
8. P2 - $2.20 million
Virtually all of the garage-bound horror flick's box office take came from within the Los Angeles city limits, where audiences were eager to relive the blood-chilling fear they'll die in the cars that they experience each time they're stranded inside The Grove's Parking Structure of the Damned following an ill-considered weekend-night trip to the multiplex.