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Aniston, Vaughn’s ‘Break-Up’ tops box-office charts

By Ed Blank, TRIBUNE-REVIEW FILM CRITIC
Tuesday, June 6, 2006
Expected to premiere as a strong No. 2 movie on the box-office charts, "The Break-Up," instead, is topping them.

The prospect of seeing Jennifer Aniston team with off-screen companion Vince Vaughn obviously isn't hurting attendance, nor is the fact there hadn't been a high-profile romantic comedy in multiplexes in more than a month.

Not that "The Break-Up" is as romantic or as funny as the hype suggests. Some reviews have noted that the film feels like a visit with hosts who spend all of their time quarreling, which may hurt it once word of mouth sets in.

For the moment, it is grooving on surprisingly healthy returns that are running well ahead of the $24 million to $31 million forecasts.

"The Break-Up" is the No. 1 movie here and across North America.

Conversely, "X-Men: The Last Stand," which soared past forecasts over the Memorial Day weekend, is crumbling faster than anticipated. It's down 67 percent nationally and 66 percent here.

The animated "Over the Hedge" is holding onto third place, helped by a 12 percent increase in attendance here in its third week. Its turf is about to be invaded by two more cartoon features, "Cars" on Friday and "Garfield's A Tale of Two Kitties" June 16.

The three-week-old "The Da Vinci Code" for the first time is running behind "Over the Hedge," which opened opposite it May 19. "Da Vinci" is off 34 percent. It's No. 4 here.

Fifth locally is "Mission: Impossible III," oddly improving by 14 percent now that some of the newer action films are losing their luster.

Checking in at No. 6 locally is "RV," up one percent. Some holdovers are helped by the fact that only one wide-release movie has premiered on each of the past two Fridays.

"Poseidon" is seventh here, sinking 45 percent.

"See No Evil" is eighth, off 21 percent.

"Water" and "The Proposition" round out the top 10 in limited release.

"The Omen" opens today. The debut of "Cars" on Friday will be against "The Death of Mr. Lazarescu," "A Prairie Home Companion" and "Keeping Up With the Steins."

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