Also revolutionary road made 1.369.000 million in 8 days and in 38 theaters.That's a record.

Hope Slumdog does not win best picture!!

It really was not all that great, the ending was cheesy and rushed.

@adu: Let me guess, you subscribe to "The Dark Knight" bandwagon….

I want curious to win best pic. Only movie I really walked out of awestruck this year.

The per theater average for Defiance was real good, along with Revolutionary Road. Should bode well for their expansions, along with Gran Torino.

Next Week…hmm normally I'd go with Bride Wars but there are other alternatives for their target audience…The Unborn will do well, then probably hit a 60% drop like most teen horror flicks do…and that Morris Chestnut flick might do well considering its theater count is low, the Tyler Perry audience should come in full force

Tonight and Tomorrow I will be fortunate enough to attend private screenings of "Slumdog Millionaire, Milk, Gran Torino, The Wrestler, Revolutionary Road, Doubt & Frost/Nixon;" after which I will finally be able to make a decision on which film was truly the best of 2008.

So far I'd say its a 2-way tie between "The Dark Knight" & "Wall-E."

Tomorrow; however, I expect all of that to change.

@Jerzey Jon: There is no need to assume that just because someone doesn't like Slumdog, they prefer the Dark Knight over it, or to think that would be a bad thing. Instead of showing extremely bad character, just let people have their own opinions. I liked Slumdog Millionaire, but I prefer The Curious Case of Benjamin Button.

If The Dark Knight gets nominated of course I'll be cheering for it come Oscar night, but Slumdog Millionaire would make me almost as happy. Both are amazing films that deserve any and all credit they get (and I'd absolutely love to see Nolan or Boyle get up on that stage and speak).

I'm still going to go out on a limb and say The Curious Case of Benjamin Button will NOT be nominated for Best Picture. A major favorite like this has not been nominated just two short years ago when everyone thought Dreamgirls was a lock. I think the same thing might happen this year (and I hope it does, Ben Button was decent but not Oscar-worthy)

@Scott: I can see where you're coming from, but oy vey! I find it quite a stretch to compare The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to Dreamgirls.

I would also love to see Nolan on stage, or at least nominated.

@Jerzey Jon:

Nah man, the I'm rooting for Benjamin Button, it was truly awesome in my opinion.

I wasn't crazy about Benjamin Button. I liked it, but I don't think it's one of the best movies of the year.

As much as it pains me to say it, I think Bride Wars is going to make more money than The Unborn. Let's put it this way: I'm planning my own wedding and assisting in varying capacities with at least three others in the next year and a half, and you couldn't pay me to sit through Bride Wars. It looks downright painful. But I have little faith in the American people, so it won't surprise me if it makes buttloads of money.

Of course, I won't see The Unborn, either. It looks like a really well-made movie, but I don't do horror.

I'm thinking The Unborn will take next weekend- it looks a heck of a lot better than Bride Wars…. which, honestly, let's not even talk about how bad that looks.

btw, The Box Office Junkie (which is actually a big fan of Rope Of Silicon) just posted analysis of all the Oscar-buzz films as well as the top-earners, if anyone is interested in reading that. It delves a bit deeper into the analysis. http://theboxofficejunkie.com

Oh, and I have no idea what Benjamin Button spent its money on. Epic period pieces covering eighty years of history with extensive costuming, set, and makeup work with about 40% of their shots containing some amount of CG are dirt cheap. I mean, you see high school kids on YouTube doing that kind of stuff in their backyards. I suspect they had REALLY good catering.

Aerine,

I believe you're incorrect. I think the budget was built up over the 20 years of development. $150m for BB and $75m for Valkyrie / Seven Pounds doesn't compute. CGI is actually much cheaper these days. At least $50m of that budget was sunken costs on the scripts / rights / previous options would be my guess.

PS – I'll take a Slumdog win at the Oscars. There were plenty of films I liked more, but Button wasn't one of them.

@Laremy: That's true, the long and tortured development of the film possibly inflated its budget, though it's difficult to say exactly how much. And while CG is getting cheaper, I'd estimate that BB included 600-900 CG shots, and those add up. Every inch of that film that wasn't shot in that hospital during Katrina was manipulated in some way, even just by saturating and airbrushing the frames in post. Plus, while CG may be getting cheaper, costumes and makeup aren't. Most period pieces only have to recreate one era, but BB is covering eighty years, so the number of costumes needed for its principals and extras increases dramatically. (Just ask Watchmen.) Plus, a good chunk of the aging effects were achieved practically with makeup and lighting, which costs more than CG but looks better when it's pulled off.

I just don't find the budget to be that surprising, that's all. It may not be blowing stuff up, but it's an effects film nonetheless.

As far as Oscar, I think Milk is most likely, though I'm still rooting my little heart out for WALL-E. Then again, I still haven't seen a fair number of the major contenders, including Slumdog Millionaire, so I'm not ready to make predictions just yet.