The Star Zombieland
Though the Queens native, who now lives in Chelsea, made a name for himself in sleeper hits like "The Squid and the Whale" and "Adventureland," it looks like "Zombieland" may be the kick-start to his blockbuster career.Comedy Zombieland has topped the North American box office, scoring Woody Harrelson the biggest film opening of his career.
The movie, which features the star as a killer fighting an epidemic of the undead, took $25m (£15.7m) in its opening weekend.
Harrelson's previous best opening was 1993's Indecent Proposal which took $18m (£11.3m)
Family animation Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs slipped to number two.
The humor is vicious and the supporting cast is viscous. But underlying the carnage in Zombieland is a sweetly beating heart.
Ludicrous as it sounds, a film featuring rampaging, blood-oozing zombies and wide-eyed Little Miss Sunshine blasting a cap in whichever undead body parts are available makes for delightful entertainment.
This road movie/horror flick/dark comedy/earnest romance/action film hybrid laces a gentle drollness through all the bloody mayhem.
Ah, such a harsh term. To be fair, Drew Barrymore's directorial debut Whip It disappointed, launching in sixth place through Fox Searchlight on $4.9m. But the reality is, it's a small movie and in a horribly overcrowded market a top 10 launch these days is quite an achievement if you haven't got A-list talent. Not every movie costs $100m and needs to reach this somewhat outdated benchmark to be regarded as a hit. So if Whip It can stick around for another week or two and pass its $15m budget it will be doing well. In fact the producers have already made back a fair amount of their outlay through international rights sales, a smart move for independent releases that may struggle to recoup solely in North America. Two others opened in the top 10 and fared pretty well.
Jesse Eisenberg is full of contradictions. He's the New Yorker who hates to walk, the actor who prefers to write and, most recently, he's the indie film mainstay starring in the action-packed "Zombieland."
Though the Queens native, who now lives in Chelsea, made a name for himself in sleeper hits like "The Squid and the Whale" and "Adventureland," it looks like "Zombieland" may be the kick-start to his blockbuster career.
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