Despite Bootleg Copies, 'American Gangster' Rules The Box Office

In the biggest film openers of their careers, Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe saw their film 'American Gangster' be the #1 film of the week with about $46.3 million dollars. It was also the highest R rated film to gross that much this year, following '300', which did an astonishing $70 million when it opened in March.

As good as the number is, I can't help but think that the film would have easily made over $50 million if not for the crystal clear bootleg copies floating in the streets. It had to be Christmas for those street sellers when the they got theirs hands on the film and were able to sell it two weeks before the film came out. Folks from New York to Los Angeles had copies. Barbershops were playing the film on their DVDs to keep patrons happy while waiting to get cuts. At least there are people who still prefer to watch a good film on the big screen. We need to support films of color in the theater if we want them to succeed financially.

Coming in second place was Jerry Seinfeld's Bee Movie, which grossed $39.1 million. With weeks gone by since 'The Game Plan', which stars The Rock, opened, it was time for another family film to take over that department. Next week will prove challenging when 'Fred Claus' opens and goes after the same audience.

Last week's number one film, 'Saw IV', dropped heavily to 4th place with $11 millon. It lost 65% of their audience from the previous week, but still has made over $50 million in ten days. Not bad for the fourth film in the franchise. As many films you can make from the horror genre, they don't tend to do well with the 3rd or more sequels. Not even the sequels to all the 'Friday the 13th', 'Nightmare of Elm Street, and 'Chucky' films saw these sort of numbers, so for 'Saw IV' do this, it's pretty impressive.

With 'American Gangster' having so many African Americans in the film, Tyler Perry can no longer hold on to the audience and 'Why Did I Get Married' grossed $2.7 million dollars. It's total take at this point is $51.2M. As stated in previous blogs, had the film played in a lot more theaters, it would have done bigger business.

Seen 'American Gangster'? What Did You Think?