Don’t look now, but Channing Tatum is plotting to take over the world.
Well, maybe “plotting” is a little strong. That suggests that the versatile pretty-boy actor is in a secret bunker somewhere, rubbing his hands together and cackling with evil glee. And “the world” might be overstatement, as well. “The box office” might be more reflective of reality.
But can it be coincidence that on the weekend Tatum’s The Vow finally fell out of the box office Top 10 (after six weeks and more than $121 million), another Tatum film would shoot to the very top? Color me skeptical.
Tatum, along with comedy cohort Jonah Hill, piloted the R-rated 21 Jump Street to an estimated $35 million weekend and a first-place finish. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, after two weeks on top, took a truffula tumble to second place with $22.8 million—still cementing itself as the year’s biggest film thus far. (No truth to the rumor that Tatum voiced one of those singing goldfishes.)
But even without a Lorax bump, Channing Tatum movies have earned nearly $185 million this year (a figure that also includes January’s Haywire). And while the guy isn’t expected to release a movie every month this year, he still has two other projects in the hoppers—including G.I. Joe: Retaliation. One has to assume that, by the close of 2012, Tatum will own a private island somewhere. Perhaps one equipped with a cave complex hidden underneath a faux volcano and some sort of submarine docking station.
Disney’s John Carter slumped to third place with $13.5 million, while Project X drunkenly staggered into fourth with $4 mil. And somehow Eddie Murphy’s A Thousand Words—a film that has thus far earned a 0% “freshness rating on rottentomatoes.com—actually crawled up a spot, moving from sixth to fifth with $3.8 million.
Perhaps audiences were just hoping to get away from Channing Tatum for a while.
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