How to Make Cash: Get “Blind Side”d

With the kind of word-of-mouth its getting, I had a feeling The Blind Side might overtake New Moon and emerge the box office winner this weekend – although the numbers are pretty tepid.

Here is the top five at the box office this weekend:

1. The Blind Side (Warner Bros.) – $20.4 mil; 3,326 theaters; $6,146 PT; $129.2 mil cume
2. The Twilight Saga: New Moon (Summit Ent.) – $15.7 mil; 4,124 theaters; $3,808 PT; $255.6 mil cume
3. NEW! Brothers (Lionsgate) – $9.7 mil; 2,088 theaters; $4,646 PT
4. A Christmas Carol (Buena Vista) – $7.5 mil; 2,546 theaters; $2,954 PT; $115 mil cume
5. Old Dogs (Buena Vista) – $6.9 mil; 3,425 theaters; $2,015 PT; $33.9 mil cume

I’m beginning to think The Blind Side might actually have a shot at a Best Picture nomination. There are 10 spots after all – and the Academy loves a feel-good, inspirational movie, especially if its also a box office hit. Certainly, Sandra Bullock could be looking a her first Oscar nomination. Meanwhile, Everybody’s Fine, which WAS being considered as another Oscar hopeful, opened in a disappointing 10th place; that sort of hurts its chances.

Other serious Oscar contenders are lined up for this coming weekend, including Clint Eastwood’s Invictus, Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones and Jason Reitman’s Up in the Air, which opens wide. There’s also Disney’s return to 2D animation and musicals with The Princess and the Frog, which I predict will be the big winner (at least I hope so for Disney’s sake; they need a hit). And if it’s playing in your theaters, I highly recommend seeing A Single Man, the Colin Firth/Julianne Moore drama, directed by fashion designer Tom Ford. Here’s the trailer: