'Ghost Rider' lights box-office fire

[BENDIS!]

'Ghost Rider' lights box-office fire By DAVID GERMAIN, AP Movie Writer
19 minutes ago



LOS ANGELES - Satan's bounty hunter has looted the wallets of movie-goers. "Ghost Rider," Sony's comic-book adaptation starring Nicolas Cage as a motorcycle stunt driver moonlighting as a collector of evil souls for the devil, debuted as the top weekend movie with $44.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

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Debuting in second place with $22.1 million was Disney's "Bridge to Terabithia," based on the children's novel about a boy and girl who create an elaborate fantasy land to escape from the troubles of the real world.

The movies bumped off the previous weekend's No. 1 flick, DreamWorks' Eddie Murphy comedy "Norbit," which slipped to third place with $16.8 million, lifting its total to $58.9 million.

Premiering at No. 4 with $14 million was the Warner Bros. romance "Music and Lyrics," starring Hugh Grant as a washed-up pop singer and Drew Barrymore as his unlikely songwriting partner.

The Lionsgate romance "Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls" opened in fifth place with $12.1 million, a sharp drop from filmmaker Perry's February releases the last two years, 2006's "Madea's Family Reunion," which premiered with $30 million, and 2005's "Diary of a Mad Black Woman," which debuted with $21.9 million.

Universal's spy thriller "Breach" debuted at No. 6 with $10.4 million. It stars Chris Cooper as Robert Hanssen, the FBI man caught in 2001 for selling secrets to Russia, and Ryan Phillippe as a young bureau operative who helps bring him down.

Though trashed by critics, "Ghost Rider" helped pull Hollywood out of its box-office doldrums, with overall revenues rising for the first time in six weekends. The top 12 movies took in $141.4 million, up 28 percent from the same weekend last year.

"This is the weekend that could turn the tide and get us going in the right direction," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Based on the Marvel Comic books, "Ghost Rider" delivered Hollywood's biggest opening so far this year, topping the $34.2 million debut for "Norbit." "Ghost Rider" was the best opening weekend ever for Cage, beating the $35.1 million debut of "National Treasure."

"Ghost Rider" also extended Hollywood's winning streak with comic-book adaptations, a genre some critics have said would eventually play itself out.

"I think as long as stories are being told in a way that audiences embrace them, you can go for a long, long, long, long time," Bruer said.

Coming this summer are two big comic-book sequels, Sony's "Spider-Man 3" and 20th Century Fox's "Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer."

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Ghost Rider," $44.5 million.

2. "Bridge to Terabithia," $22.1 million.

3. "Norbit," $16.8 million.

4. "Music and Lyrics," $14 million.

5. "Tyler Perry's Daddy's Little Girls," $12.1 million.

6. "Breach," $10.4 million.

7. "Hannibal Rising," $5.5 million.

8. "Because I Said So," $5 million.

9. "The Messengers," $3.8 million.

10. "Night at the Museum," $3.7 million.

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[amy]

That's going to piss off a lot of people here. :)


I enjoyed it.

[Mister Mets]

Not surprising.

And not a movie I really want to see.

[skinnyrunaway]

That is mindbogglingly awesome.

[Anna]

This makes me so happy.

It's FF Movie: Redux. The more bitches who hated on it, the more I liked it.

[Juggernaut]

The real results of how Marvel reaps from all this will be when Iron Man hits the theatres since that is a movie being made by marvel studio's.

[JoeE]

I'd hoped Breach would have a bigger showing.

[Jerome Gibbons]

Hey Bendis, did you get to see Ghost Rider?

[skinnyrunaway]

The real results of how Marvel reaps from all this will be when Iron Man hits the theatres since that is a movie being made by marvel studio's.

I'm ridiculously excited for Iron Man and I don't know why. It's gotta be Terrence Howard. Hustle and Flow is in my top 5 favorite movies.

[Shwicaz]

Based on the Marvel Comic books, "Ghost Rider" delivered Hollywood's biggest opening so far this year, topping the $34.2 million debut for "Norbit." "Ghost Rider" was the best opening weekend ever for Cage, beating the $35.1 million debut of "National Treasure."

"Ghost Rider" also extended Hollywood's winning streak with comic-book adaptations, a genre some critics have said would eventually play itself out.

"I think as long as stories are being told in a way that audiences embrace them, you can go for a long, long, long, long time," Bruer said.


cool beans.

[Kefky]

I haven't watched the movie, and I imagine I probably won't even like it much whenever I get around to doing so, but it's STILL great to see a comic-book movie do that well on the box office.

[batmanbooyah]

i don't like any concept of ghost rider in the comics up to now. though the whole bounty hunter thing is pretty cool. ghost rider has been very 2 dimensional every book i've read.

[J.D. Lombardi]

Edited because I'm a moron and now I'm shocked because this made a lot.

[~Hernandez~]

The only reason this movie made money was because it rode the coattails of some many other comic-based movies. Fuck this movie. Fuck it in Nic Cages Elvis-wannabe, flaming fucking head.

[J.D. Lombardi]

Fuck it in Nic Cages Elvis-wannabe, flaming fucking head.


I love you.

[silverboy]

...really?

This makes me really question the intelligence of the average movie-goer.

Oh wait, I already did that when Epic Movie debuted at #1.

[Albert]

I haven't watched the movie, and I imagine I probably won't even like it much whenever I get around to doing so, but it's STILL great to see a comic-book movie do that well on the box office.

It's a terrible movie and will most likely only serve to perpetuate the notion that comic books are cheesy, over the top and mostly for dumb kids and immature adults.

[Albert]

This makes me so happy.

It's FF Movie: Redux. The more bitches who hated on it, the more I liked it.

So your enjoyment of something is based on what other people thought of it?

[Boris the Blade]

That's going to piss off a lot of people here. :)


I enjoyed it.
It doesn't surprise me or upset me that bad movies do good business. It would if I cared all that much about the business, and not the films themselves.

[Marcdachamp]

I'm ridiculously excited for Iron Man and I don't know why. It's gotta be Terrence Howard. Hustle and Flow is in my top 5 favorite movies.

I'm not a big Iron Man fan either, but there's no question that it's going to fucking huge. Honestly, if that movie DOESN'T kick ass, every person involved will have to be dragged in front of a firing squad. With an amazing cast and one of the easiest comic book characters to bring to life, I really think we could be seeing the next giant franchise. This could totally serve to reinvigorate the character.

[Kody]

I really don't think I can bring myself to see this one.

I might try and catch it on TBS in 4 or 5 years.

[Kefky]

I'm not a big Iron Man fan either, but there's no question that it's going to fucking huge. Honestly, if that movie DOESN'T kick ass, every person involved will have to be dragged in front of a firing squad. With an amazing cast and one of the easiest comic book characters to bring to life, I really think we could be seeing the next giant franchise. This could totally serve to reinvigorate the character.

And Jon Freveau seems to really know what he's doing. And they couldn't get anyone better to design the suit. :)

Really, I think there's very little chance of that movie going wrong right now.

[chazbot]

It's a terrible movie and will most likely only serve to perpetuate the notion that comic books are cheesy, over the top and mostly for dumb kids and immature adults.

Then Spidey 3 will come out and people will begin to start raising opinions on the success of comic book movies and the essence of what a hero is. I remember the large contingency of people stating how Spidey 2 should have gotten a best adapted screen play nod.

[jason hissong]

I haven't watched the movie, and I imagine I probably won't even like it much whenever I get around to doing so, but it's STILL great to see a comic-book movie do that well on the box office.

before i start: i have yet to see ghost rider.

that said, why? why is it great to see a comic book movie do that well at the box office? shouldn't the determining factor of 'doing well at the box office' be quality of the film, and little else?

[Thommy Melanson]

Iron Man is definitely going to be huge.

Captain America, Thor and The Sub-Mariner are going to have to knock it out of the park.

The Sub-Mariner will probably be the trickiest of them to do well.

[Kefky]

before i start: i have yet to see ghost rider.

that said, why? why is it great to see a comic book movie do that well at the box office? shouldn't the determining factor of 'doing well at the box office' be quality of the film, and little else?

I don't think so, no. I don't think popularity has much to do with quality. When a movie that I personally liked does well, I don't get all giddy 'cause everyone has the same taste as I do. I think it's good for a comic-book movie to do well because it shows there's a market for it, and more of them will be made. That's all.

[A.Huerta]

before i start: i have yet to see ghost rider.

that said, why? why is it great to see a comic book movie do that well at the box office? shouldn't the determining factor of 'doing well at the box office' be quality of the film, and little else?

You really cant tell if the movie was going to be really crappy in the previews, they showed a lot of Ghost Rider and Eva. We know GR should be a darker and more serious Blade type movie, so the jokes in the trailer gave us a clear warning this wasnt going to be good. The general audience just knows this is another superhero movie so they went for it. After the word of mouth and reviews, we'll see if people still want to see this next week.

[Kefky]

Iron Man is definitely going to be huge.

Captain America, Thor and The Sub-Mariner are going to have to knock it out of the park.

The Sub-Mariner will probably be the trickiest of them to do well.

Man, all three of those movies could seriously kick-ass or go horribly wrong.... It's both exciting and scary at the same time.... :scared:

[bartleby]

I don't see any reason to think that the general audience knew that GHOST RIDER was based on a comic book or that it was a superhero movie. Based on the marketing, GHOST RIDER would seem to have much more in common with something like RESIDENT EVIL or UNDERWORLD than with SPIDER-MAN OR X-MEN.