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"Dreamgirls" Remains Strong at Box Office
By Andrew Gans
22 Jan 2007
The new movie musical "Dreamgirls," which recently received a Golden Globe Award for Best Motion Picture-Comedy or Musical, remained one of the five highest-grossing films of the weekend just ended.
During the Jan. 19-21 weekend "Dreamgirls" brought in $8,711,000 at the box office, making the film the third highest-grossing motion picture of the weekend. That's one place higher than the previous weekend, where the film placed fourth, bringing in $8,122,000.
According to boxofficemojo.com, the Bill Condon-directed film, which opened nationwide Christmas Day, has earned $78,118,000 to date.
The top-grossing film of the weekend past was "Stomp the Yard." Others in the top five included "Night at the Museum" (#2), "Dreamgirls" (#3), "The Hitcher" (#4) and "The Pursuit of Happyness" (#5).
"Dreamgirls" premiered in Manhattan Dec. 4 at the Ziegfeld Theatre. Following its premiere, the film played 10-day roadshow engagements at the Ziegfeld, Hollywood's Cinerama Dome and San Francisco's Metreon.
"Dreamgirls" stars Jennifer Hudson as Effie, Beyoncé Knowles as Deena Jones, Anika Noni Rose as Lorrell Robinson, Jamie Fox as Curtis Taylor Jr., Eddie Murphy as James "Thunder" Early and Danny Glover as Marty. Director Bill Condon also wrote the film's screenplay based on the late Tom Eyen's book. The film employs most of the original score by Eyen and Henry Krieger as well as four new tunes: "Love You I Do" (for Effie), "Listen" (for Deena), "Patience" (for James "Thunder" Early) and "Perfect World" (for Teddy Campbell, a child musical sensation rising alongside The Dreams).
"Dreamgirls," according to the film's official website, "follows the rise of a trio of women — Deena (Beyoncé Knowles), Effie (Jennifer Hudson) and Lorrell (Anika Noni Rose) — who have formed a promising girl group called The Dreamettes. At a talent competition, they are discovered by an ambitious manager named Curtis Taylor, Jr. (Jamie Foxx), who offers them the opportunity of a lifetime: to become the back-up singers for headliner James 'Thunder' Early (Eddie Murphy). Curtis gradually takes control of the girls' look and sound, eventually giving them their own shot in the spotlight as The Dreams. The spotlight, however, begins to narrow in on Deena, finally pushing back the less attractive Effie out altogether. Though the Dreams become a crossover phenomenon, they soon realize that the cost of fame and fortune may be higher than they ever imagined."
The musical Dreamgirls, which concerns the rise of a Supremes-like singing group amid a flurry of infighting, debuted at Broadway's Imperial Theatre on Dec. 9, 1981, playing 1,521 performances before closing Aug. 11, 1985. The original cast featured Obba Babatundé, Cleavant Derricks, Loretta Devine, Ben Harney, Jennifer Holliday, Sheryl Lee Ralph and Deborah Burrell. The show lost the Tony for Best Musical to Maury Yeston's Nine. A 1987 revival at the Ambassador Theatre starred Lillias White, Alisa Gyse, Kevyn Morrow, Weyman Thompson and Arnetia Walker.
For more information visit www.dreamgirlsmovie.com.
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