This weekend saw the entry of a few new arrivals at the box office.  The Expendables 2 was meant to capture the action crowd; Sparkle looked for females; and The Odd Life of Timothy Green and ParaNorman fought over families.  While Odd Life was expectedly weak (live-action family movies are tough to pull off,) the other entrants banked some serious coin for the first weekend of ‘back-to-school.’

The Expendables 2 was the big one to watch.  Despite tepid reviews for the series’ first outing from both critics and theater goers, Hollywood anticipated a $40 million weekend which would have signified a near 20% bump from 2010 which opened with a $13.3 million Friday.  Instead, the Simon West-directed ensemble flick failed to capitalize on much better reviews and word of mouth by banking a mere $10.5 million in its first 24 hours. Continue Reading