Showbiz411

In Quentin Tarantino’s “Inglourious Basterds,” the goal is to kill Hitler and defeat the Nazis. “The King’s Speech” has done that in a way. It surpassed “Basterds” over the weekend as the biggest grossing film for The Weinstein Company. And don’t forget, King George VI’s goal is the same–to defend England from the Nazis, and even while his brother and his awful wife aka the Duke and Duchess of Winsdor, are guests of the Third Reich. “The King’s Speech” now boasts $123.8 million in its till, with another $154 million internationally. It’s made a tidy $64 million in England alone. Surprisingly, it’s made $25 million more than its nominal rival,  “The Social Network,” which was curiously had its number of screens lowered in late January as it received many Oscar nominations. By contrast, “The King’s Speech” went wider. Ah, the mysteries of distribution! “The King’s Speech” still has a lot of life left in it, too. It could do between $135 mil and $140 mil before its video release in April. This past weekend it took in over $6 million and beat a number of commercial releases including the teetering “I Am Number 4″ and “Just Go with It.”

Roger Friedman

Roger Friedman began his Showbiz411 column in April 2009 after 10 years with Fox News. Friedman previously wrote the Intelligencer column at New York Magazine, He writes for Parade magazine and has written for Details, Vogue, the New York Times, Post, and Daily News and many other publications. He is the writer and co-producer of a film about R&B Music called “Only the Strong Survive,” which was released by Miramax in 2003 and was a selection of the Cannes, Sundance, and Telluride Film festivals.