The terrible ‘Burt Wonderstone’

The Incredible Burt Wonderstone dropped into theaters this past weekend and when I say “dropped,” I mean “tanked.” Wonderstone stormed into theaters with an estimated 30 million dollar budget and opened in 3,160 theaters. Oh, and not to mention the movies two main characters are Steve Carell and Jim Carrey. Sure seems like the perfect recipe for a box-office hit, right? Apparently not, The Incredible Burt Wonderstone finished third in the weekend box office, only bringing in 10.3 million and some change. Ahead of Wonderstone were The Call at number two (also premiered on Friday, with a mere 13 million dollar budget) which brought in 17.1 million and Oz The Great and Powerful which finished first, bringing in 42.2 million for the weekend.

The last comedy released in theaters was 5 weeks ago (Identity Thief) and the 10.3 million start for Wonderstone was one of the worst debuts for Carell and Carrey ever. In theory the movie seems like it should have done better, yet once you sees the commercial, I think it’s easy to see why it tanked. It looked dumb, plain and simple and the critics largely agreed. The commercials portrayed two ridiculous, non-believable magicians having a competition for a big show deal. The jokes looked simple and predictable. The audience was most likely composed of Carrey and Carell faithful fans with not too many others venturing to see it.

To be fair, I have not seen the movie. I love Jim Carrey so I most likely end up seeing it; although my seeing the movie will not be a result of the trailers drawing me in. My prediction, based on the weekend box office, is this movie will come out on DVD and might become a popular Redbox rental. It’s a real shame for Carell and Carrey, I hope they bounce back from this one. Will this be the mark of the two hilarious actors going down hill, or a mere hiccup in their insanely successful careers?