Weekly Wrap Up: Karate Kid Fights Way To Number One
The martial arts skills of Jackie Chan and Jaden Smith come through to this week’s number one with “The Karate Kid,” a remake of the 1984 classic starring Ralph Macchio. With the film, Smith takes one step closer from furthering himself from his ultra-famous father Will, and shows that he can help carry a movie to box office success. The remake finished at $55.7M, beating out its closest competitor, “The A-Team,” by a whopping $30M.
The A-Team, an adaptation of the popular 80′s program, was recently condemned by Lawrence “Mr. T” Tero, who played B.A. Baracus on the show, saying that “people die in the film and there’s plenty of sex but when we did it no one got hurt and it was all played for fun and family entertainment.” Having said this he understands that Hollywood sometimes incorporates these elements and that he has “no doubt it will do big at the box office.”
Coming in to just behind “The A-Team” to make the podium was the 3D film “Shrek Forever After” at $15.8M after topping the box office for three straight weeks. Behind everyone’s favorite ogre we have the Judd Apatow produced comedy “Get Him To The Greek,” followed by the Ashton Kutchar/Katherine Heigl action-comedy “The Killers.”
This week should bring big numbers to theaters, with the long awaited “Toy Story 3” opening in 3D. The film brings back most of the original cast, including Tom Hanks, Tim Allen, Joan Cusack, and Don Rickles. Sadly Jim Varney, who played Slinky Dog, and Joe Ranft, who played Lenny and Wheezy, have both died since the release of “Toy Story 2″ and thus do not reprise their roles.
Both the original “Toy Story” and its sequel received 100% ratings on rottentomatoes.com, and thus far the third film has done the same. So will it continue its perfect run? For those of us who have come to know and love Woody, Buzz, Mr. Potato Head, and the whole cast of characters, we’d all like to give a resounding YES!
