The setup of the Underworld franchise sounds like something that a couple of 12-year-old boys would plot during a lazy Saturday afternoon.
“So what if, like, vampires and werewolves hated each other?” one might say.
“Yeah, and they, like, had a secret war! And used grenades made of silver and stuff!” His friend would opine.
“And then, maybe they’d create some huuuuge werewolf hybrids! And they’d be immune to silver!”
“And then the vampires, to fight ’em, would turn into dinosaurs!”
Well, Underworld: Awakening didn’t have any dinosaurs in it. We’ll have to wait for the next sequel for that. Given the film’s box office victory, we’ll likely see another one soon.
Awakening bit the box office for an estimated $25.4 million—the second-best opening chomp in the franchise’s history (Underworld: Evolution earned $26.9 million its opening weekend in 2006). The win didn’t surprise anyone—except for maybe me, who can’t quite figure out how this R-rated franchise (the rating would seem to bar at least most 12-year-old boys from seeing it) attracts so many people. Now, if the folks from Mystery Science Theater 3000 were involved somehow, that I could get my head around.
Red Tails, George Lucas’ take on World War II’s Tuskeegee Airmen, flew into second place with $19.1 million—way above the $10 million some industry analysts expected. It trumped Contraband, which collected another $12.2 million in its second week in theaters.
Extremely Loud & Incredibly Close, a long-shot Oscar hopeful in its first week of wide release, finished fourth with $10.5 million—holding off yet another newcomer, Haywire. In a weekend when everything seemed to be making money (theaters grossed 32% more than they had this time last year), Haywire—starring mixed martial artist star Gina Carano—fell flat, earning just $9 million. As Time movie critic Richard Corliss said, “Call Haywire a technical knock-out—not by the movie but of it.”
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