Paul Blart Mall Cop

All of the new DVD releases hit stores (and Netflix) on Tuesdays. So each week in What to Netflix: New DVD Tuesday, I sort through the best of the batch and tell you what to add to your queue. In addition to my selections below you can also add Paul Blart: Mall Cop and Fanboys to your queue.

Valkyrie
In Bryan Singer's Valkyrie, Tom Cruise stars as Col. Claus von Stauffenberg, a German officer who leads the plot to kill Hitler. The story is one of those "little known" historical gems that's full of intrigue and political coups. A fantastic cast (including Kenneth Branagh, Bill Nighy, and Tom Wilkinson) surrounds Cruise, lending some serious acting cred to the production.

Special features include audio commentary by Tom Cruise, Bryan Singer and co-writer/producer Christopher McQuarrie, and The Valkyrie Legacy Documentary.

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Two more up next, so read more

Zack Snyder's long-awaited screen adaptation of Watchmen finally hit theaters over the weekend and scored the best opening of the year with an estimated $55.7 million. Apparently that's actually a bit of a disappointment to the studio which, according to Variety, "had hoped Watchmen would match, or even best, the $70.9 million domestic opening of Zack Snyder's previous film, 300, which bowed on the same weekend in 2007."

The rest of the top five at the box office was all mixed up with Tyler Perry's Madea Goes to Jail coming in second place, followed by Taken in third, Slumdog Millionaire in fourth, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop in the fifth spot. Oh, Paul Blart. America just can't seem to quit you.

So what did you see over the weekend? Did you venture out into the world of Watchmen?

Photos courtesy of Warner Bros.

The economy may be on shaky ground but you wouldn't know it by looking at the box office totals from this weekend. The Friday the 13th remake actually set records and had "the best opening ever for a horror movie in grossing an estimated $42.2 million from 3,105 theaters through Sunday." Meanwhile He's Just Not That Into You exceeded expectations by snagging the No. 2 spot over the weekend, while Liam Neeson's Taken continued to do strong box office business and came in third place. Confessions of a Shopaholic had a disappointing debut at No. 4.

Coraline rounded out the top five while Paul Blart: Mall Cop, at No. 6, became the first original January release to reach $100 million. Dang!

Finally, Clive Owen and Naomi Watts weren't enough star power to save The International from a lackluster debut. The thriller managed seventh place.

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Big name stars plus romantic self-help equals box office bucks this past weekend as He's Just Not That Into You took the No. 1 spot earning an estimated $27.5 million. The action flick Taken slipped to No. 2 though it still performed well, and was followed by Coraline, The Pink Panther 2, and Paul Blart: Mall Cop.

Variety notes how a weekend like this affects smaller, Oscar-nominated films: "The torrent of highly commercial new releases dinged the Oscar-nominated pics, which—outside of Slumdog Millionaire, The Wrestler and The Reader — saw virtually no bump. That's rare for kudos contenders in February."

Photo courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures

Liam Neeson's thriller Taken scored the top spot at the box office this weekend, which according to Variety, proves that "male-driven pics can open successfully on Super Bowl weekend." Last year Miley Cyrus brought her magic to the big screen over Super Bowl weekend and broke records.

Meanwhile, Paul Blart: Mall Cop continues to do well and dropped to the No. 2 spot after two weeks in first place. People love this movie! Elizabeth Banks's horror flick, The Uninvited, came in No. 3 followed by Hotel for Dogs and Gran Torino.

Finally, New in Town, the romantic comedy starring Renee Zellweger and Harry Connick Jr. had a disappointing (though not unexpected) debut at No. 8, only earning an estimated $6.8 million.

Photo courtesy of Twentieth Century Fox

I think it's pretty awesome that while Hollywood is busy congratulating itself on fantastic performances these past two weekends with the Golden Globes and SAG awards, America is meanwhile off to the theaters to see Paul Blart: Mall Cop. I love this country! You can't put us in a box.

Once again the goofy comedy was No. 1 at the box office, followed by newcomer Underworld: Rise of the Lycans. In third place came the Clint Eastwood drama, Gran Torino, which has also been an audience favorite for several weeks.

Hotel for Dogs came in fourth place and the "slumdog" everyone loves to root for, Slumdog Millionaire, rounded out the top five.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures

Over a weekend that produced way higher box office returns than expected, the Kevin James comedy Paul Blart: Mall Cop was the big winner, debuting to the tune of $33.8 million. This is just counting the Friday-Sunday box office, and studios will rake in even more on the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday.

Across the board, the box office for this holiday weekend is up 31% over last year (and again, this is just Friday-Sunday). The 3-D horror flick My Bloody Valentine opened in third place with $21.9 million, just barely pushing out another newcomer, Notorious, which earned $21.5 million. As Lionsgate points out, "3-D runs turned in revenues four times greater than conventional runs, thanks to higher ticket prices."

Ahead of both of those with $22.2 million, however, is the little Clint Eastwood film that could: Gran Torino. And rounding out the top five in fifth place is the new family film, Hotel for Dogs with $17.7 million.

Photo courtesy of Sony Pictures