2008 Box Office Champs Prove Americans Like Flying Guys, Talking Animals

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mojo-photo-darkknightdollars.jpgBox Office Mojo’s chart of the past 365 days at the box office has a couple surprises, and none of them are reassuring about our nation’s taste in movies. While even a cave-dweller would know that The Dark Knight snagged the most of our hard-earned cash in its batty claws this year, I bet you can’t guess the #2 movie, or tell me what three (or four?) kiddie flicks giggled their computer-generated, disturbingly-anthropomorphic ways into the Top 10. It’s all pretty depressing, to be honest, so take a deep breath and click “continues” to find out.

Top Ten Grossing Movies, Dec. 24, 2007 – Dec. 22, 2008

1. The Dark Knight ($530,822,957)
2. Iron Man ($318,313,199)
3. Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull ($317,023,851)
4. Hancock ($227,946,274)
5. WALL-E ($223,773,410)
6. Kung Fu Panda ($215,434,591)
7. Madagascar: Escape 2 Africa ($172,901,193)
8. Quantum of Solace ($161,664,762)
9. Twilight ($159,776,480)
10. Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! ($154,592,439)

That’s right, Iron Man was #2, just barely beating out Indiana Jones, although over $200 million separates the Batman from the rest of the, er, flock. I guess we should just be glad Beverly Hills Chihuahua didn’t make it on the list.

While there’s a week left in 2008, it looks like their Top 10 will probably stay the same, since numbers 11 and 12 are Sex and the City and Mamma Mia!, respectively, and neither seem likely to experience a huge post-Christmas surge. However, with only about five million bucks separating WALL-E from Hancock, there’s a fighting chance the best movie on that list could overtake the, er, 6th-worst, in the next 7 days. Get out there and spend money on WALL-E, people!

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WHO DOESN’T LOVE A POSITIVE STORY—OR TWO?

“Great journalism really does make a difference in this world: it can even save kids.”

That’s what a civil rights lawyer wrote to Julia Lurie, the day after her major investigation into a psychiatric hospital chain that uses foster children as “cash cows” published, letting her know he was using her findings that same day in a hearing to keep a child out of one of the facilities we investigated.

That’s awesome. As is the fact that Julia, who spent a full year reporting this challenging story, promptly heard from a Senate committee that will use her work in their own investigation of Universal Health Services. There’s no doubt her revelations will continue to have a big impact in the months and years to come.

Like another story about Mother Jones’ real-world impact.

This one, a multiyear investigation, published in 2021, exposed conditions in sugar work camps in the Dominican Republic owned by Central Romana—the conglomerate behind brands like C&H and Domino, whose product ends up in our Hershey bars and other sweets. A year ago, the Biden administration banned sugar imports from Central Romana. And just recently, we learned of a previously undisclosed investigation from the Department of Homeland Security, looking into working conditions at Central Romana. How big of a deal is this?

“This could be the first time a corporation would be held criminally liable for forced labor in their own supply chains,” according to a retired special agent we talked to.

Wow.

And it is only because Mother Jones is funded primarily by donations from readers that we can mount ambitious, yearlong—or more—investigations like these two stories that are making waves.

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