Caught all the highly original headlines coming out of the US regarding the success the Coen Brothers' latest film Burn After Reading is having at the box office?

Burn After Reading fires up the box office!

Burn After Reading ignites the box office!

Burn After Reading blazing at the box office!

Burn After Reading lights up the box office!

And so on and so on...

'Reading' between the lines, amazingly, it appears as though the Coens' 15th film as directors could be the dynamic duo's most successful at the US box office.




Burn After Reading opened last weekend in the No.1 position after impressively pulling in a record $19,128,001 for the multi-Academy Award winners and could very well go onto reach the $100million mark.

Despite their obvious talents as master film-makers, it's never really translated into hige box office sales. Not that money is the be-all and end-all, but I'm sure it's a nice little bonus and no doubt helps with clout when it comes to producing your next movie.

Joel and Ethan's previous best opening came in 2004 with The Ladykillers, starring a goatee-wearing Tom Hanks, which made $12,634,563 in its first three days. The only other Coen Brothers movie to notch at least $10million on debut was Intolerable Cruelty with George Clooney, with $12,525,075, released in 2003.




Despite the impressive early figures, both films turned out to be among the least favourite among fans, and box office tallies dried-up soon after. Ladykillers went on to make $39,692,139, while Cruelty stopped at $35,327,628.

It could be considered an out-of-form period for the boys from Minnesota, coming off a string of cult classics including The Man Who Wasn't There (2001), O Brother Where Art Thou (2000), The Big Lebowski (1998) and Fargo (1996).

But, the brothers were back to their best last year with the critically-acclaimed albeit much more dramatic thriller No Country For Old, which, of course, went on to win the top prize at this year's Oscars, named Best Picture. Who needs big box office figures when you've got a little gold statuette hey?

The film, starring Josh Brolin, Tommy Lee Jones and Javier Bardem as a psychopathic hitman, would also become the brothers' most successful flick at the box office, raking in $74,273,505. Though it made barely a $1million in its first weekend.

Next best overall is the typically-quirky Coen offering of O Brother, based on Homer's Odyssey but set in 1940s America, which made $45,506,619. Those numbers really didn't do justice to what was a brilliantly funny sprawling chase movie, with a kick-ass theme song to boot. But that has been the way of the Coens.

O Brother starred Clooney, and the grey-haired one teams with the Coen Brothers for a third time in Burn After Reading. Early reports suggest the Coens are back to their black comedy best with this offering about two nutty gym employees who try to sell a disk containing the memoirs of a CIA agent.

Clooney and Brad Pitt head an all-star cast also featuring Coen favourite Frances McDormand, as well as John Malkovich, Tilda Swinton and the alwsys good JK Simmons.

I'm looking forward to seeing it. Sounds like it will be red-hot. Get it.

COENS AT THE US BOX OFFICE
Blood Simple (1985) $1,690,913
Crimewave (1986) $5,101
Raising Arizona (1987) $22,847,000
Miller's Crossing (1990) $4,693,759
Barton Fink (1991) $5,726,463
The Hudsucker Proxy (1994) $2,816,518
Fargo (1996) $24,567,751
The Big Lebowski (1998) $17,498,804
O Brother, Where Art Thou (2000) $45,506,619
The Man Who Wasn't There (2001) $7,494,849
Intolerable Cruelty (2003) $35,327,628
The Ladykillers (2004) $39,692,139
Paris, je t'aime (2007) $4,857,374
No Country for Old Men (2007) $74,273,505
Burn After Reading (2008) $20,621,390
Source: www.the-numbers.com