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WINNER Cars

The Romances
Here's a lesson: Love is fine, but laughs are even better. Real-life twosome Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn avoided a Gigli-style meltdown when their alternately silly and serious The Break-Up opened with almost $40 million on its way to $116.1 million in its first seven weeks, though many moviegoers didn't expect the plot to get so somber. ''There were elements in the movie that were not suggested by the advertising material,'' admits Universal marketing president Adam Fogelson. ''But go back and watch the trailer for Terms of Endearment — it's a funny story about the relationship between mothers and daughters.'' Meanwhile, the merely serious and completely inscrutable Keanu Reeves/Sandra Bullock reunion The Lake House has earned less than half of Break-Up's take, standing at an unspectacular $50 million after five weeks in theaters.

WINNER The Break-Up

The Men-children
While some wacky comedians seem to have worn out their welcomes (ahem...Rob Schneider), Adam Sandler learned that his shtick still Clicks. And though Click's $120 million gross so far means it won't reach the heights of Big Daddy, The Waterboy, or The Longest Yard, Sandler and crew smartly packed the screwy film with some adult appeal. ''To compete in the summer, you need more than one audience,'' says Sony distribution chief Jeff Blake, who released the comedy. Not surprisingly, those families passed over Jack Black in tights. Hence, Nacho Libre's tally stands at a comparatively pequeño $77.2 million (but still decent, considering its estimated $35 million budget). But with so many zany offerings, have we reached a goofball saturation point? This week's so-so openings of Little Man ($21.6 million) and You, Me and Dupree ($21.5 million) seem to indicate yes.

WINNER Click

The Grown-up Movies
The Grown-up Movies The summer of 2006 may well be remembered as the season Hollywood realized the power of the fogy (that would be Hollywood-speak for those of us over 25), as The Da Vinci Code and The Devil Wears Prada both boasted strong opening weekends ($77.1 million and $27.5 million, respectively) and showed major staying power. As a result, Code's $214.9 million gross — not to mention its $521 million international take, more than double any other summer movie so far — and Prada's three-week tally of $83.5 million (and climbing) make them among the most profitable releases of the summer. ''We were the rare adult blockbuster,'' says Sony's Blake, who distributed Da Vinci. ''We opened well and we stayed in theaters a little longer than most pictures in the summer.'' But the biggest surprise has nothing to do with box office numbers: Streep's scene-stealing turn has made Prada the summer's likeliest Oscar contender.

WINNER Grown-ups

(Additional reporting by Vanessa Juarez)


Posted Jul 21, 2006 | Published in issue #888 Jul 28, 2006 | Order Article Reprints
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