'Real Steel' Fends Off '80s Remakes At Box Office

'Footloose' opens at #2, with 'The Thing' remake/prequel at #3.
By Ryan J. Downey

Hugh Jackman and Evangeline Lilly in "Real Steel"
Photo: DreamWorks

Hugh Jackman's latest movie proved to be more than a one-hit wonder. "Real Steel" retained the #1 spot at the box office for a second consecutive weekend, fending off competition from re-workings of '80s classics, "Footloose" and "The Thing" (a remake/prequel). Meanwhile, the combined star power of Jack Black, Owen Wilson and Steve Martin didn't prevent "The Big Year" from bombing.

"Real Steel" raked in another $16.3 million over the weekend, according to studio estimates, which is a 40 percent drop from its opening weekend. The futuristic robot-boxing flick has made $51.7 million to date, against an estimated production budget of $110 million.

The remake of high-school-dancing flick "Footloose" was just behind with a $16.1 million debut. Critics were mostly kind to the film, with The Washington Post commenting, "[D]irector Craig Brewer has delivered a largely unobjectionable note-for-note facsimile of Herbert Ross's ode to teenage rebellion, young love and the unfettered joy of movement." The flick has a 72 percent Tomatometer score on Rotten Tomatoes.

By contrast, roughly 77 percent of film critics trashed the weekend's #3 film, "The Thing," which was conceived as a straight remake but evolved instead into a prequel to director John Carpenter's sci-fi/ horror classic. It opened with just $8.7 million in box-office receipts. "Carpenter's film is scary. This film is just loud," wrote avowed "Thing" fanboy Drew McWeeny on Hitfix.com. Bloody Disgusting went a step further: "Everything that was great about the 1982 version is ignored," the site's Brad Miska wrote.

"The Big Year" suffered the second-worst big studio picture opening of 2011 thus far, just behind "Bucky Larson: Born to be a Star." The story about three bird-watchers played by comedic actors Black, Martin and Wilson claimed just $3.3 million to land at #9.

George Clooney's "The Ides of March" dipped just 28 percent with $7.5 million in its second weekend. Thanks to its smaller budget, the political drama's $22.2 million total is good news for Sony Pictures.

"Dolphin Tale" rounded out the top five with $6.3 million for a $58.6 million total.

Next weekend's new releases include "Paranormal Activity 3," "The Three Musketeers" and "Johnny English Reborn."

Check out everything we've got on "Real Steel" and "Footloose."

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Source: http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1672607/real-steel-footloose-box-office.jhtml

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