Weekend Box Office Round-Up

Good thing I caught "The Devil Wears Prada" in my hotel room Sunday night in Miami because on the plane ride home yesterday, the movie showing was NACHO LIBRE! Delta doesn't give you any choice! So, I read and listened to music instead. "Prada," starring a delicious Meryl Streep and co-starring Stanley Tucci as a gay magazine executive who works for her, is still in the box office top 25 where is has resided for most of the summer. The movie added $474,500 over the weekend as it continues to wind down its theatrical run. It is the highest-grossing film of Streep's career with a domestic total of $122.7 million.

Other movies with gay characters were represented throughout the top 125 movies but all seem to be on the downswing so new fall releases will be much welcomed. I will preview the fall schedule later this week. For now, here are last weekend's figures:

"Little Miss Sunshine" which features Steve Carell as a gay man on a road trip with his dysfunctional family, saw a significant decline in its audience during a weekend where overall moviegoing was down. Seventh-place "Sunshine" took in $4.3 million, a 43.9 percent drop from last weekend. Still, the movie has grossed $41.5 million so far - terrific for a movie that had a production budget of $8 million.

"Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby" starring Will Ferrell as a NASCAR champ challenged by a gay French race car champ played by Ali G, took ninth place with $3 million in ticket sales. The comedy is finally losing speed but is still one of the summer season's biggest hits with a gross-to-date of $142.2 million.

Movies in more limited release were:
"Quinceanera," a drama set in Echo Park which won a top prize at the Sundance Film Festival. The film features several gay characters, including a teenager sent to live with his uncle after his family kicks him out for being gay. The film earned $115, 532 and has grossed $1.3 million to date.

The raucous comedy "Another Gay Movie" took 51st place with a weekend gross of $42,861. It has taken in $535,572 tro date. It was announced Tuesday that the movie will also be distributed internationally.

The romantic comedy "Queens," a Spanish movie about a large group of gay men getting married in a mass ceremony, was in 70th place with a weekend gross of $15,469. It has grossed $74,273 so far.

Just hanging in the top 100 is the comedy "The Mostly Unfabulous Social Life of Ethan Green" which, playing in a single theater, took in $2,120 for a total gross of $150,958.