> Information taken from Brandon Gray's
>http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/
>
> 1 Beowulf $27,515,871 3,153 $8,726 $27,515,871
> 2 1 Bee Movie $14,008,444 -45.2%% 3,984 +40 $3,516 $93,570,695
>32 30 Ratatouille $135,458 -38.2%% 237 -24 $571 $206,114,243
>39 19 The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D $55,506 -93.7%% 18 -455 $3,083 $14,468,466
>47 45 The Simpsons Movie $32,015 -44.1%% 61 -35 $524 $183,049,643
>
> ---------
>
> I saw "Bee Movie" that weekend. I think what kids do are completely tune
>out the plot and just concentrate on the kitchy pretty background artwork
>( Barry's hive looks like a theme park pavillion. ) and the action sequences
>( Scenes like Barry's separation from the pollen collectors are kinetic, but
>I wasn't as involved in them as I was in similar scenes in Brad Bird movies. )
>The movie is well crafted, and I liked the animation of the CGI humans this
>time around ( The animators had a lot of fun animating that fat lawyer. ).
>But the movie had one of the most unfocused plots I've recently scene. The
>first third is a standard "I want" cartoon plot. The second third is an evil
>corporation plot. And the third is an ecology plot. When Barry first talks,
>it's supposed the be a break of a sacred law, and it's a shock to his human
>pseudo-girlfriend ( Yuck. In the past I've actually praised human-furry
>romances in animation, but this time inexplicably I just went yuck. ). Yet a
>couple of scenes later humans seem at ease with talking bees and the bees are
>going along with Barry's lawsuit. Patric Warburton plays a character that's
>completely superfluous. They threw in a plane crisis near the end, apparently
>just for the heck of it. The plot just didn't add up, leaving only brightly
>colored eye candy for little kids.
>
> ---------
>
> Anyway, so "Beowulf" did pretty well with critics.
>
> http://www.rottentomatoes.com/m/beowulf/
>
> "Beowulf" also had a respectable first weekend debut. But not as strong
>as the $38M debut of "Bee Movie". I'm doubtful that the movie will be able
>to cover its $150M production budget on domestic boxoffice alone.
> Actually, "Bee Movie" itself is starting to lose some steam. with a 45%%
>drop last weekend. That movie also has a $150M production budget to cover. I
>don't think it'll quite reach that, but there's always overseas boxoffice and
>DVD sales.
> Last weekend we said godspeed to "The 10 Commandments". The Lord was with
>this misguided direct to DVD release for only $952,820.
>
> And this weekend, let's see how well "Enchanted" will do.
>