Arts & Entertainment
 

'American Wedding' takes the cake, grossing $34.3 million

By Zach Lee
The Daily Cougar

As shown by the film selection this summer, action, as a genre has been king for quite some time. Everything from comic book heroes to killer robots to buccaneers has been turned into a special effects bonanza, but this week a new genre takes the throne.

American Wedding breaks action's monopoly on the top spot, and comedy is king. Jason Biggs, Seann William Scott, Alyson Hannigan and much of the cast from the first two American Pie movies return to bring low-brow laughs back to the theatres. In this, the final installment in the series, the story revolves around Jim (Biggs) and Michelle's (Hannigan) wedding. Stifler (Scott) is responsible for the bachelor party, and as expected, the movie's sexual humor is its biggest selling point, as it grosses $34.3 million in its first weekend.

Second place belongs to Spy Kids 3D: Game Over, proving that neither adults nor children are embarrassed to be seen wearing cheap cardboard glasses with red and blue lenses. No. 3 goes to Johnny Depp and crew for Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl. Word of mouth helps Seabiscuit move up to No. 4, and Bad Boys II weighs in at No. 5. Without much of a struggle, Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life falls to sixth place after opening last weekend at No. 4.

Finding Nemo reaches $320 million in its tenth consecutive week in the top ten, and its star-studded cast and appeal to children help it hang on to seventh place. 

Jennifer Lopez and Ben Affleck make an abysmal opening weekend for their movie Gigli, which opens in eighth place. The plot puts Affleck in as a lowly mob thug ordered to kidnap the mentally handicapped brother of a federal prosecutor in order to circumvent his boss' incarceration. Lopez enters the picture as a "lesbian assassin" sent to make sure Affleck does his job right. Needless to say, the two fall in love, but many moviegoers are disappointed with the lack of on-screen chemistry between Hollywood's hottest couple.

Rounding out the list are The League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, in ninth place with a gross of $58.8 million, and Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines in tenth, with a gross of $142 million.

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