The gloves are off. The Martin Scoresese/Clint Eastwood Oscar battle is on. Martin is first out of the gates with The Departed and he is not messing around. He has a stellar cast of respected actors (including the legendary Jack Nicholson), excellent reviews, and his biggest box office opening of his career:
Auteur Martin Scorsese scored his biggest opening weekend ever with the Warner Bros. release "The Departed" over the weekend: The cop drama reeled in just over $27 million on 3,017 screens.
Only one previous pic by the helmer has opened to more than $10 million, the 1991 remake "Cape Fear." "Departed" marked Scorsese's widest rollout to date, as well as the frame's widest release.
Pic - starring Jack Nicholson, Matt Damon, Mark Wahlberg and Leonardo DiCaprio-- played to a socko per screen average of $8,954.
Let the Oscar race begin. Eastwood is up next with the WW II drama Flags of Our Fathers. I haven't seen The Departed yet, but I'll probably check it out later this week. This is my favorite time of the year to see movies.
