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‘Day the Earth Stood Still’ launches to $31M debut

By DAVID GERMAIN
Audiences sat still for Keanu Reeves’ sci-fi remake “The Day the Earth Stood Still,” making it the weekend’s top movie with a $31 million debut, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The 20th Century Fox release also added $39 million in 90 overseas markets for a worldwide total of $70 million.

The movie updates the 1951 tale of an alien and his giant robot enforcer who come to Earth with a warning about the consequences of humanity’s destructive nature.

“Audiences are moving to see `The Day the Earth Stood Still.’ It’s a visually stunning movie with timely issues everybody on this planet can relate to,” said Fox distribution executive Chris Aronson. “Basically, how we treat each other and how we treat this planet that we call home.”

The Warner Bros. holiday romp “Four Christmases” slipped to second place with $13.3 million. The Reese Witherspoon-Vince Vaughn comedy raised its three-week total to $88 million.

Another seasonal tale, Overture Films’ “Nothing Like the Holidays,” opened a weak No. 7 with $3.5 million. The movie features John Leguizamo, Debra Messing and Alfred Molina in the story of a Chicago family’s holiday reunion.

The overall box office plummeted compared with the same weekend last year, when “I Am Legend” opened with $77.2 million and “Alvin and the Chipmunks” debuted with $44.3 million. This weekend’s top 12 movies took in $83.3 million, down 45 percent from a year ago.

“This was predestined to be a down weekend given the incredible one-two punch of ‘I Am Legend’ and ‘Alvin,’” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “There was no way this weekend could measure up.”

A rush of films opened with big numbers in limited release to qualify for the Academy Awards.

Miramax’s “Doubt” pulled in $525,030 in 15 theaters, averaging $35,002 a cinema, compared with $8,708 in 3,560 locations for “The Day the Earth Stood Still.” The film stars Meryl Streep, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams in a war-of-wills drama between an old-school nun and a progressive priest.

Clint Eastwood’s “Gran Torino” played in six locations and took in $284,000 to average $47,333. The Warner Bros. film stars Eastwood as a bigot who becomes an unlikely protector for his immigrant neighbors against street thugs.

The Weinstein Co. drama “The Reader” rang up $170,000 in eight theaters for a $21,250 average. The Holocaust-themed story stars Kate Winslet as a former concentration camp guard standing trial years later.

Steven Soderbergh’s two-part, four-hour-plus film biography “Che” took in $60,100 in two cinemas to average $30,050. The IFC Films release stars Benicio Del Toro as Latin American revolutionary Che Guevara.

Boy George guilty of False Imprisonment

LONDON (AP) –

 A jury convicted pop singer Boy George Friday of falsely imprisoning a male escort.

Norwegian Audun Carlsen had alleged he was restrained with handcuffs by the musician at the singer’s London apartment on April 28, 2007.

Carlsen, 29, also accused the former Culture Club frontman of swinging a metal chain at him as he fled the singer’s flat after a naked photo shoot.

Boy George, who was tried under his real name George O’Dowd, admitted he handcuffed Carlsen while he investigated alleged tampering with his home computer. The singer said he believed Carlsen had removed photos of himself that were taken by the singer when the two met previously.

Jurors saw photos of welts on Carlsen’s head and injuries to his arm, which he said had been inflicted by O’Dowd, 46. O’Dowd said he couldn’t account for the injuries.

The ’80s icon was released on bail following the verdict. He is due to be sentenced Jan. 16.

Judge David Radford indicated jail was a real possibility for the singer. “This is a case where custody is the more likely option,” Radford said.

It’s not the singer’s first brush with the law. Two years ago, he was ordered to do community service in New York — sweeping streets— after pleading guilty to falsely reporting a burglary at his lower Manhattan apartment. The officers who responded found cocaine instead.

BlackBerry Storm Flying off Verizon Wireless Shelves

Verizon Wireless released Research In Motion Ltd.’s BlackBerry Storm this morning. Customers showed up early to get their hands on the device and the device has been selling out quickly.

The Storm was sold out in the Rocky Mountain region by 10 a.m. Brenda Raney, a spokeswoman for Verizon Wireless, said the carrier expects all retail stores to sell out today, but assured that there are enough of the high-end devices available, so customers who order the device will have it within a week.

In a Golden, Colo., store, Kathy Harms said she has been waiting for months to buy the handset. “I’m so excited! I’ve been waiting since they told me in June.” Harms said she almost bought Apple Inc.’s iPhone available exclusively through AT&T Mobility, underscoring the competition between the nation’s two largest carriers. The Storm runs on Verizon Wireless’ 3G network and includes an 8 gigabyte microSD memory card. Initial reports on the device are mixed; reviewers generally have been impressed with the smartphone, but the touchscreen-haptics feature has been awkward for some users.