Will Ferrell comes back guns blazing, literally, after a lackluster summer opening last year. The Other Guys, also staring Mark Wahlberg, managed to rip the title of number 1 film in America away from Inception which actually held strong in its fourth week. The cop parody film garnered 35.6 million in its opening weekend, nearly doubling the amount of this year’s other cop comedy Cop Out. Last year, Will Ferrell missed the mark with a seemingly uninteresting remake of the classic television series Land of the Lost. Fortunately for him, it did not extinguish his selling potential. Of course the film is bolstered by a much stronger cast than usual for Ferrell. Along side the comedic money maker is Mark Wahlberg, who has successfully separated himself from his 90’s pop star gimmick. Now he looks to prove his versatility by taking on a slapstick role. Alongside them are fellow money makers Samuel L. Jackson and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson. If anything, they provide the name power to put a few more butts in the seats. The Other Guys is Will Farrell’s second highest grossing opening, next to Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby.
With the dance film trilogy now complete, it is safe to say that Step Up 3-D did not live up to expectations. Although, I don’t know if there were any expectations going in. While, billboards littered buses and even took up large amounts of real estate in Times Square, the interest level of the film never seemed to materialize. A very dismal 15.8 million might signal the death of this dancing franchise but gives a boost to the 3-D lobbyists, providing evidence that 3-D is still attractive. In fact, 3-D screenings showed for more than 81% of Step Up’s earnings. Eliminate the high ticket price and Step Up 3-D performed well below expectations.
The blockbuster month continues this Friday as both The Expendables and Scott Pilgrim vs. The World finally hits theaters. We’ll see if the tag team of Mark Wahlburg and Will Farrell can fend of Sylvester Stallone and Michael Cera.