My 13-year-old granddaughter is absolutly nuts for the vampire one.
'Blind Side' Wins the Weekends: Christians vs. Vampires
BIG HOLLYWOOD
By John P. Hanlon on werewolves
Much of the buzz about "The Twilight Saga: New Moon" has revolved around a debate between Team Jacob and Team Edward. Numerous articles have been written explaining the merits of these two characters who many girls have swooned over in theaters. As a Chicago Tribune article about stars responding to the question of which team they align themselves with asked, "Are stars loyal to brooding vampire Edward Cullen (played by Robert Pattinson) or hulking werewolf Jacob Black ( Taylor Lautner) as the two duel over heroine Bella ( Kristen Stewart) in the film adaptation of Stephenie Meyer's popular books?" Over the past few weekends, moviegoers have faced their own choice, not between Jacob and Edward, but between "New Moon" and another recently-released motion picture, "The Blind Side."
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On the one hand, "New Moon" is the highly-anticipated sequel to the blockbuster hit "Twilight." As many sequels are, it has been heavily publicized and much has been made about the aforementioned two competing male characters in the film. From major interviews that the cast has done to magazine covers to speculation about the future movies in the series, "New Moon" has attracted a lot of attention as a popular book has been turned into a popular movie. Because of the fans of the book and movie, "New Moon" has unsurprisingly become a blockbuster hit and has made over $250 million dollars in only a matter of weeks.
On the other hand, there stands a movie about a Christian family that takes in a poor young kid and makes him part of their family. This movie, it should be noted, is based off of a non-fiction book about the Tuohy family. As many critics on this website have previously noted, "The Blind Side" starring Sandra Bullock, is a great family film with a meaningful message about changing a person's entire life. As Richard Roeper aptly noted in an article about the film, "'The Blind Side' knows its football, but it's even smarter about the priceless thing known as a family."
What has been interesting these past few weekends is watching the box office results for these two motion pictures. Inevitably, "New Moon" has grossed much more than "The Blind Side." According to the early box office results, both motion pictures have been out for three weeks and "New Moon" has grossed nearly twice the box office of "The Blind Side." However, the latter film has also quickly beaten many expectations.
This past weekend (according to those early results), "The Blind Side" blindsided "New Moon" and won the weekend. The box office chart featured had "The Blind Side" with 20.4 million dollars and "New Moon" grossing 15.7 million dollars. The chart also noted that "New Moon" was playing on 4124 screens while "The Blind Side" was only playing on 3326 screens — meaning that the Sandra Bullock movie grossed more than the "Twilight" sequel while being in nearly 800 fewer theaters.
The box office results for "The Blind Side" and its staying power shows that there is an audience out there for inspirational movies about people reaching out to others in need. "The Blind Side" is not only inspirational, it is a smart, character-driven piece of entertainment. One hopes that Hollywood replicates that formula. |
