Spring Box Office Winners and Losers

The spring movie season has been a mixed bag. There were some films that were great; others that were OK; and the majority were god-awful. While critics have bashed the majority of Hollywood releases, audiences have pushed several films to record box-office heights. Below is a look at the box-office winners and losers, and all of the surprises in between.

Winners


300 – Filmmakers hit the mother lode when they released this film about a little known battle with warriors who looked like models and slow-motion action shots. The film is the year’s highest grossing film with more than $200 million in box-office receipts since its release. You can believe that every studio that has a battle script is now scheduling it for production. I have a sneaky hunch that 301 will not be far behind.

Wild Hogs – Critics bashed this buddy motorcycle road film when it was released in February. All the film did was open No. 1 and rake in $152 million since its release. Maybe the studio knew that the film would have broad appeal by having a former teen star (John Travolta), the original host of Def Comedy Jam (Martin Lawrence), Tim the Tool Man (Tim Allen) and The Cooler (William H. Macy). Maybe the studio just got lucky.

Ghost Rider – Nicholas Cage is one of the most polarizing actors in Hollywood. Love him or hate him, there’s no denying that the man knows how to make films that impact people. Coming off of one of the worst films of 2006, Wicker Man, Cage follows that up with the bad story, strong-special effects motorcycle film, Ghost Rider. Critics hated the film and audiences loved the flaming ride, to the tune of over $115 million.

Norbit – The film that, perhaps, lost Eddie Murphy his Oscar, starred the comedian in multiple roles, as an elderly Asian man, young nerdy man and an a loud, overweight woman. Critics slammed Murphy for his negative, offensive female caricature while audiences laughed and pushed the film over $90 million. Murphy says he doesn’t read reviews, but I bet he cashes checks!

Blades of Glory – Audiences glided this figure-skating comedy past the $90-million mark after just three weeks of release. Hollywood’s sports star, Will Ferrell, has now done a soccer film (“Kicking and Screaming”) and an auto-racing comedy (Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby), and he has a football film on the way. If Ferrell keeps this up, he’ll be hard-pressed NOT to star in another sports film.

Stomp the Yard – This School Daze meets You Got Served romp was as predictable as the day was long. It featured dance sequences based on Black fraternities’ steps, and the acting was sophomoric but entertaining. Still, audiences stomped into theaters tipping the box-office scales to over $60 million for this story of a young man’s redemption on a fictional Black-college campus.


Losers

Epic Movie - Eighty-six of the most painful, aggravating minutes that I, or anyone else, will spend this year. This unimaginative, crass film ties together four people who all win “Golden Tickets” and are off to an “Epic” adventure. It is almost as if the filmmakers thought of the idea while consuming large quantities of alcohol.

Black Snake Moan – Director Craig Brewer’s follow-up to Hustle and Flow turned audiences off, raking in a disappointing $9 million. Wasting one of Samuel L. Jackson’s best performances, the marketing campaign gave audiences the impression that an elderly Black man was using a young White woman as a sex toy – while chaining her to his radiator. There is a fine line between provocative and lewd, and for viewer’s, BSM crossed that line.

Pride – For years the joke was that Black people don’t swim. That may not be true, but we now know that they don’t go to movies where other Black people are swimming. With only $7 million since its release, this uplifting story – based on a true story of a swim coach who has helped hundreds of kids realize their dreams of higher education – sunk like a stone. Audiences that ignored this story should take no pride in the fact that you send a message to Hollywood not to take future chances on wonderful little stories like these.

I Think I Love My Wife – Despite one of Chris Rock’s best performances and great supporting work by an actress on the rise, Kerry Washington, I Think I Love My Wife bombed. Audiences expecting to see Rock riffing on screen were disappointed by his mature take on modern marriage. The film’s uneven tone, featuring scenes that would play better in his stand-up act, didn’t help audiences make the transition to the “grown-up” Chris. With only $12 million since its release, I guess everyone does HATE Chris!

The Number 23 – Jim Carrey has always walked to his own eccentric beat. From the early days on “In Living Color” and hilarious comedies such as Bruce Almighty and Liar, Liar, to thoughtful dramas such as Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, his latest film, The Number 23, may be the film that ends the honeymoon. This disjointed story about a man obsessed with Michael Jordan’s jersey number disintegrated from bad to terrible in 23 blinks of an eye.

Horror Films - One thing that has also been constant in 2007 is that Horror films have been Horribly repetitive. Duds like Dead Silence, The Hills Have Eyes 2, Hannibal Rising, The Messengers, The Host and The Abandoned scared audiences away from theaters instead of into theater seats. The lure of small-budget scary stories with potential large returns (Saw and The Blair Witch Project) will ensure that the trend of making these apathetic films will continue.

This feature appeared on BET.com.