What a trio of T. rexes couldn't do, a lion, a witch and a magic closet did over the long holiday weekend: If only barely, they toppled the great ape. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Rest of the Title Goes On as Long as the Name of a Fiona Apple CD took in $32.8 million, over $1 million more than King Kong, which came in second with $31.6 million. Rounding out the Top 5 were: Fun with Dick and Jane in third with $21 million, Cheaper by the Dozen 2 in fourth with $19.3 million, and the J.An romantic comedy Rumor Has It in fifth with $11.6 million.
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Christmas-night business nudged King Kong to a $31.4 million payday — a slim $300,000 margin of victory over No. 2 finisher The Chronicles of Narnia — in the holiday-weekend box-office contest. Rounding out the top five were Fun with Dick and Jane (which I came thisclose to seeing, before remembering that Jim Carrey films often disappoint), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (which, I figured, probably carried the prerequisite of seeing the original, lest one be hopelessly lost) and The Family Stone (which no matter how many times I see the title, makes me think of Sharon).
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Question: Hollywood seems obsessed with remakes; just recently they've made new versions of King Kong, Fun with Dick and Jane and Yours, Mine & Ours. Don't you think this is part of the reason people aren't going to the movies the way they used to? I've seen the originals of all three of the movies I just mentioned, and if I want to see them again I'll watch them on TCM at home, in my pajamas, for free.
Answer: I don't think it's the remakes per se that's keeping people at home: I've seen remakes I thought were terrific, like the recent The Manchurian Candidate (2004). The 1962 original is a great movie, and the remake puts a different spin on the material, which is as timely today as it was then. Remakes bother film freaks (like us), but casual moviegoers often don't even know they're seeing a remake
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