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  • "The Hangover" Seizes Top Honors -- Plus Soundtrack Scoops!

    Sarah Ball | Jun 8, 2009 05:16 PM


    This morning's Mix gave you the dish on the weekend box office numbers as they were -- namely, with Up squeaking out a sliver of a victory over runner-up The Hangover.  But hold the presses!  The Todd Phillips-directed buddy flick -- for which we interviewed the supremely funny Zach Galifianakis last week -- actually took top honors once all cash was counted.  And they truly eeked it out -- the margin between the films is roughly $300,000 to $400,000, Warner Brothers estimated.  By the latest calculations, The Hangover takes between $44.6 and $44.8 million, while Up will likely tally around $44.4.

    This is interesting for quite a few reasons.  While a $44.4-million second weekend is hardly a loss for Pixar, it is a bit of a shock -- Up was the easy pick for No. 1, with its stellar reviews and a family-friendly tone that should've snagged significant matinee sales. But where adult audiences should've splintered -- with Will Ferrell loyalists migrating to Land of the Lost, and the rest chancing it on The Hangover -- they didn't.  Lost failed to siphon off grownup (or family) moviegoers, never mounting a threat and allowing The Hangover and Up to cleanly split the difference.  As The New York Times pointed out, it's strange -- but efficient, I suppose -- to have summer's sleeper and biggest flop in the same weekend.

    And speaking of the big winner:

    One of the things we loved about The Hangover was its cheeky soundtrack, including a clever revival of "Who Let the Dogs Out?" (really, it's possible), and a great reference to Kanye West's "Can't Tell Me Nothing," the alternate music video of which Galifianakis starred (see above). Some music blogs are buzzing over tracks like these that didn't make it onto the officially released soundtrack, so if you're looking for a full (albeit unofficial) list of songs in the film, check out ReelSoundtrack's compilation.


  • Bret Michaels is Laughing Off His Pratfall

    Sarah Ball | Jun 8, 2009 05:04 PM

    Poison front man Bret Michaels -- who took a spill Sunday after colliding with a setpiece during the Tony Awards -- had three stitches put in his lip and has fractured his nose, the Associated Press is reporting.  He's also undergoing a precautionary CAT scan -- but isn't suffering from sour grapes.  He reportedly laughed backstage at host Neil Patrick Harris' remark that the singer "gave 'head-banging' a whole new meaning."

     


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  • Morning Mix: Current TV Journalists Sentenced to Labor

    Sarah Ball | Jun 8, 2009 08:37 AM
    • "Land of the Lost" Fails to Tempt. Not even Will Ferrell could save Land of the Lost from itself -- or is he the reason it didn't sell? The movie scratched together a mere $19.5 million, though it cost more than $200 million to make, distribute and promote. Meanwhile, The Hangover very nearly nabbed first place away from Up -- the former took $43.3 million, while the latter's second weekend took $44.2 million. [The New York Times]

    • Current TV Journalists Sentenced to Hard Labor.  The two journalists working on a story for Al Gore's Current TV in North Korea have been tried and sentenced to a labor camp for "hostilities against the Korean nation and illegal entry."  Laura Ling and Euna Lee have been imprisoned since March. [ABC News]

    • Bret Michaels Meets Business End of Tony Set Piece.   When a piece of the stage set at Sunday's Tony Awards descended after a performance (not unlike a curtain -- check video here), it found an unaware receiver in Poison frontman Bret Michaels. It clobbered him in the face and knocked him to the ground after his opening performance of a Broadway revue. Rep says his nose isn't broken, though he was rushed to the hospital. [Associated Press]