The 2008 rendition of the ‘60s TV spy series, "Get Smart",
gained the first box office spot on its opening day. According to the estimates released
by BoxOfficeMojo, the movie earned $13,500,000 in ticket sales from 3,911 theaters.
In “Get Smart”, “The Office’s” star Steve Carell embodies
the protagonist, Maxwell Smart, an analyst for the US intelligence agency CONTROL.
Like his homologue played by Don Adams, Smart craves more or less secretly to
leave his indoor work and go outside, shoot the enemies and save the world. But
the chances for his wish to come true are scarce, as he is very efficient at
his analyzing job. His idol is macho Agent 23, played by Dwayne Johnson.
The espionage agency’s nemesis, KAOS, succeeded with an evil
plan and uncovered CONTROL’s secret mission and missionaries. Given that KAOS
got its dirty hands on some nuclear weaponry, CONTROL has to go out there and
save the world, therefore Smart is given the guns, an undercover name, and a
colleague, beautiful Agent 99 (Anne Hathaway). They are helped by Agent 23,
whose spy skills are too good to be left out of the operation, but who has been
too ‘uncovered’ to continue working undercover.
The movie
falls into the action-comedy genre and the first similar movie that comes to
mind could be 2002’s "I Spy" with Eddie Murphy and Owen Wilson
The 2008 cinema version seems to be funny enough to be worth
seeing, but it certainly lacks the charm of the old series, and it fails to
recreate its atmosphere.
The last weekend champion, “The Incredible Hulk” earned the
second spot in Friday Top 10, with $6,455,000.
The 2008 ‘Hulk’ suffered some re-thinking and returned
totally re-branded: new director, new cast, new green. “The Transporter’s”
Louis Leterrier took over Ang Lee’s directorial chair, Edward Norton took the
responsibility of the protagonist, replacing Eric Bana and Hulk’s love
interest, geeky scientist Betty Ross is now played by Liv Tyler, instead of
Jennifer Connelly.
“The Incredible Hulk” was closely followed by “Kung Fu Panda”,
which earned $6,350,000 on Friday.
“The Love Guru”, the
latest effort of Mike Myers, opened on a disappointing fourth place, $5,425,000
and it seems like the movie will be a box office failure.
What can be said in the first place about Mike Myers’ latest
production, “The Love Guru,” is that it creates a vicious circle. The movie is
so rich in less-evolved sophomoric humor, containing plenty of bathroom humor
that it could only be suitable for the mind and taste of 10-year boys. On the
other hand, Myers’ appetite for penis jokes granted the movie a PG-13 rating
that stands great chances of hindering the 10-year boys from watching it. Hence
the vicious circle.
“The Happening”, the latest movie directed by M. Night
Shyamalan, gained $3,300,000 and the fifth spot on Friday.
The last five places went to “Indiana Jones and
The Kingdom Of The Crystal Skull”, $2,400,000, “You Don’t Mess With The Zohan”,
$2,375,000, “Sex And The City”, $2,150,000, “Iron Man”, $1,150,000 and “The
Strangers”
