Film News: Steve Harvey Packs Houses with Adaptation of ‘Think Like a Man’

CHICAGO – The female heroine driven film “The Hunger Games” had held the top spot for the past four weeks but has been knocked out by “Think Like a Man” based on Steve Harvey’s best-selling book. The movie is directed by Tim Story and written by Keith Merryman & David A. Newman starring Michael Ealy (“Barbershop”), Jerry Ferrara (“Entourage”), Meagan Good (“The Steve Harvey Show”), Regina Hall (“Death at a Funeral”), Kevin Hart (“The Five-Year Engagement”), Taraji P. Henson (“The Family that Preys”), Terrence J (“Sparkle”), Jenifer Lewis (“Meet the Browns”), Romany Malco (“Baby Mama”), Gary Owen (“Daddy Day Care”), and Gabrielle Union (“Bad Boys 2”). The weekend gross was $34 million almost tripling the reported production budget of $12 million.

The story of “Think Like a Man” follows four men who discover their girlfriends have purchased Harvey’s book and use his advice to shake things up. The men feel betrayed by this and turn the tables using the advice as a counterattack.

Zac Efron’s “The Lucky One” comes in second with a weekend gross of $23 million. Warner Bros has put some mint into pushing this film – you can’t turn on the television without seeing a commercial of Efron (“High School Musical”) in his tighty whiteys whispering sweet nothings into the ear of Hollywood newcomer Taylor Schilling (“Mercy”). But, if somehow, you did indeed miss the teaser then here’s the run down: Efron’s character is a marine who after serving in Iraq makes his way back to the U.S. heading to North Carolina to search for a woman whose photo he found and held onto as a good luck charm. The production budget is not available.

“The Hunger Games” rounds off the top three coming in third with a weekend gross of $14,666,007; total gross of $357,066,467. The production budget was $78 million.

We at HollywoodChicago.com predict “The Five-Year Engagement” starring Jason Segel (“Forgetting Sarah Marshall”) and Emily Blunt (“The Devil Wears Prada”) will be the front-runner in next week’s box office numbers. Let us know what you think!

The actual numbers are provided by Box Office Mojo [14]:
1. Think Like a Man [15] – $33.6 million – new
2. The Lucky One [16] – $22.5 million – new
3. The Hunger Games [17] – $14.7 million – down 30.5% — $357 million total
4. Chimpanzee [18] – $10.7 million – new
5. The Three Stooges [19] – $9.8 million – down 42.6% — $29 million total
6. The Cabin in the Woods [20] – $8 million – down 45.6% — $27 million total
7. American Reunion [21] – $5.5 million – down 47.7% — $48.5 million total
8. Titanic 3D [22] – $5 million – down 57.8% — $52 million total
9. 21 Jump Street [23] – $4.8 million – down 27.6% — $127 million total
10. Mirror Mirror [24] – $4.4 million – down 35.6% — $55 million total

By Brigid Brown
Staff Writer
HollywoodChicago.com