Our Movie Standings: George Lucas Gets Shot Down - NBC Chicago
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Our Movie Standings: George Lucas Gets Shot Down




    George Lucas' "Red Tails" opened this weekend. And if you saw Lucas parade round on "The Daily Show" and elsewhere, he'll tell you that he had an awfully hard time getting financing for his movie due to its predominantly black cast. Of course, that ignores the idea that studios would be unwilling to work with a power-mad has-been who can't write dialogue anymore, openly embraces corny tropes no one likes, and is perfectly capable of funding a $58 million production on his own using his "Star Wars" blood money. Did moviegoers vindicate Lucas in the end? Let's look at the final chart via Box Office Mojo.

    1. Underworld Awakening - $25.4M
    2. Red Tails - $19.1M
    3. Contraband - $12.2M
    4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - $10.5M
    5. Haywire - $9.0M
    6. Beauty & The Beast 3D - $8.6M
    7. Joyful Noise - $6.1M
    8. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - $5.5M
    9. Sherlock Holmes: A Game of Shadows - $4.8M
    10. The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - $3.8M

    Both "Red Tails" and "Underworld" received middling critical reception, and their grosses weren't particularly dazzling. I don't think you'll see either of them hanging around the box office for long, and our PCBS formula, knows it. REVEAL THE STANDINGS!

    1. The Artist - 448
    2. The Descendants - 416
    3. Beauty & The Beast 3D - 119
    4. Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close - 118
    5. (tie) Tinker Tailor Soldier Spy - 115
    5. (tie) The Iron Lady - 115
    7. Contraband - 98
    8. Haywire - 80
    9. Red Tails - 39
    10. Mission Impossible: Ghost Protocol - 37

    As you can see, "Underworld" didn't even make our top 10, and "Red Tails" will likely fall out by next week. The big story here is "Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close", which finally got a wide release but failed to make a big impact at the box office or in our standings. People knew well in advance that there wasn't much Tom Hanks or Sandra Bullock here, and people hate 9/11 movies, so that may seal its fate. All the vampires and warplanes on Earth cannot stop George Clooney and Jean Dujardin.