Savages The Movie Debuts With Box Office Splash Over The Weekend

Oliver Stone's newest flick "Savages" debuted this past weekend at the box office against heavy hitters "The Amazing Spider-Man" and funny man Seth McFarlane's "Ted."  The rated R flick from highly acclaimed director Oliver Stone and the Donovan Winslow adapted novel got off to a decent start.  However, it was no match for Spidey, who currently tops the charts grossing an estimated 140 million to date.   Just below Disney's "Brave" and "Ted," the crime drama is clearly on the radar.

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Confident in the film's potential, Universal made the choice to move the film's release from September to this past weekend with the goal of wooing adult males.

In this Donovan Winslow adopted thriller, heart throbs Taylor Kitsch and Aaron Taylor Johnson play the parts of Ben and Chon; king pin weed growers on the gold coast of Laguna Beach, California.  They also share a girlfriend in the promiscuous Ophelia played by Blake Lively.  The lovely Salma Hayek is drug lord widow Elena, and convincingly represents the Baja Cartel.  Things go awfully wrong when the Laguna Beach duo refuses to do business with the cartel. 

The ensemble cast also includes Benicio del Toro, who plays a henchman and the recent controversy- ridden John Travolta, who is a corrupt fallen DEA agent. 

Ploying on sex, drugs and rock & roll, the film is not for the weak at heart.  Staying true to his reputation, Stone delivers graphic sex and violent scenes throughout.   Similar to his visually dynamic "Natural Born Killers," he puts the audience into a mind altering movie experience that only the truly devoted could grasp. 

Although it has out-performed  several similar crime movies such as the "Smokin' Aces" ($14.6 million) in a similar block of time, it is lagging behind other measuring stick successes such as "Contraband" ($24.3 million) and "The Town" ($23.8 million).  On the mainstream front, the film has been received as fair grossing $16.1 million thus far.