After surprising us on Friday with its first-place debut, Think Like A Man has surprised again with its estimated $33 million haul from 2,015 locations.  That is the best per-screen average of the week (wide releases) and it nearly doubles expectations for the comedy. In second place, The Lucky One earned a solid $22.8 million and then there’s The Hunger Games… not sick of hearing about that one yet, are you?

I want to first start out by saying Matt Goldberg wrote a dynamite review when The Book of Eli was in theaters and I agree with him completely.  What could have been just a standard action flick, ends up being a soulful exploration of one man’s quest to guard a book at all costs, with loads of awesome cinematography and action to keep even die-hard action fans satisfied.  More after the jump.

The debut of The Book of Eli on Friday may have knocked Avatar out of the spot it had been occupying, more or less unchallenged, for the past 28 days but, as expected, that was just a temporary hiccup. Saturday signaled a return to grace for James Cameron and Fox, with Avatar ringing up another $41.3 million through Sunday. And with Monday a holiday, that means that Avatar should clear the $500 million mark within the next 24 hours.

It’s been awhile since James Cameron’s Avatar had any serious completion at the box office. The Book of Eli may not exactly count as competition for a movie with a domestic total now over $460 million, but no one can say that the new release isn’t serious. On so many levels. The apocalyptic Book of Eli took in an estimated $11.7 million on Friday to take first place, just outpacing Avatar by a scant $1.3 million. That means that there is a very real chance that Avatar and its PG-13 wonders could earn a fifth weekend at number one. Meanwhile Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones went wide on Friday, taking in a decent $5.7 million. We’ll have full details on the holiday weekend’s box office come Monday.

I loves me a good western and The Book of Eli fits the bill.  Don’t let the post-apocalyptic setting fool you; The movie opens on a shot of a six-shooter, the main character (Denzel Washington) is headed west and doesn’t reveal his name until the end of the movie (thus making him that old west archetype, “The Stranger”*), an old saloon, and other trademarks of the western genre along the way.  But the post-apocalyptic setting provides a nice twist by removing almost all modern technology except for a heavy arsenal of weapons…and an iPod.  The Hughes Brothers have made a well-shot, well-edited, and exciting film, but it also features a very heavy-handed religious message.  It’s a hurdle, but The Book of Eli manages to clear it.

Best known for her roles as Jackie Burkhart in That 70′s Show and as the voice of Meg on the hit animated series Family Guy, Mila Kunis has also established herself as a feature film star with an impressive resume that includes the Mike Judge comedy Extract, the action thriller Max Payne and the Judd Apatow comedy Forgetting Sarah Marshall.

Currently filming the Darren Aronofsky thriller Black Swan, in which she plays a professional ballerina, her next release is The Book of Eli, in which she plays Solara, an innocent girl wanting to discover what else life could offer her, in a world that has been ravaged by apocalyptic wars. With Denzel Washington and Gary Oldman already attached as co-stars and the Hughes Brothers already set to direct, it was an easy choice for her to take on the multi-layered role.

Mila Kunis talked at the film’s press day about her desire to play strong women who aren’t the victim. Read what she had to say after the jump:

With the Hughes Brothers The Book of Eli opening this Friday, Warner Bros. has finally released some movie clips.  While some studios are content to release four or perhaps six clips from a film, WB has sent over twelve!  So if you’re trying to stay spoiler free, you will not want to watch these.  Saying that, a few of the clips showcase some of the cool action scenes so perhaps you want to see them now.  The Book of Eli stars Denzel Washington, Mila Kunis, Gary Oldman, Jennifer Beals, Ray Stevenson, Frances de la Tour and Michael Gambon.

Hit the jump for the synopsis and clips:

“It’s a man on a mission with something that everybody wants,” Allen Hughes said of the story for The Book of Eli, his forthcoming action film starring Denzel Washington. “It’s pretty simple. One man is trying to get something somewhere.”

In late March of 2009, Collider visited the New Mexico set of the film, and we were met by torrential waves of dust and debris that filled every last nook and cranny in about five minutes. Unfortunately, we were there for about ten hours.

Hughes, who is co-directing with his brother Albert, explained how the film’s postapocalyptic world came to look quite so unhospitable. “We allude to a nuclear war, he said. “We also talk about what happened environmentally; it’s a combination of a lot of things – diseases, famine, war. It started with a war and now the whole system’s collapsed.”

Albert, meanwhile, detailed the story’s origins. “[Gary Whitta] is from the video game world, and he probably liked a lot of the post-apocalyptic movies,” Hughes said. “I thought it was interesting, the kind of spiritual or religious angle he had on it. It’s not based on any particular thing that I know of, [but] I mean, it does hint towards a lot of other movies.” When asked whether the film had a Western influence, Albert indicated that they were shying away from direct references to films, much less familiar genres.  Much more after the jump:

Six months ago or so, Collider enjoyed the rare opportunity to visit the set of The Book of Eli, Allen and Albert Hughes’ postapocalyptic thriller about a laconic hero (Denzel Washington) who battles a shrewd but ruthless mercenary (Gary Oldman) and picks up a plucky barkeep (played by Mila Kunis) while walking across country to deliver a mysterious book. The day we were on set, however, there wasn’t a lot of book-bringing; rather, a massive firefight erupted outside a rickety, dilapidated house as we huddled inside a wind-whipped tent, futilely attempting to shield ourselves from billowing, violent clouds of dust. In fact, the weather was so unhospitable that Eli himself, Denzel Washington, couldn’t get over to us to sit down (or even huddle) for a quick chat.

A few weeks later, the small group of attending journalists caught up with Washington via telephone, where he offered a few explanations about what we saw (and mostly couldn’t see), and revealed a few details about who Eli is, why he’s doing what he’s doing, and how it felt to work with heavyweights like Gary Oldman.  Hit the jump for more:

A behind-the-scenes video detailing the stunts, particularly the fight sequences, in the Hughes Brothers’ upcoming The Book of Eli recently popped up on Yahoo! Movies. Basically, it’s 2 ½ minutes of directors Albert and Allen Hughes, star Denzel Washington, and stunt coordinator Jeff Imada (fight coordinator for the last two Bourne flicks) talking about standard stuff like the intensity of the sequences and how amazing Denzel was at learning the techniques/doing his own stunts. Toward the end, they also get into some semi-interesting analysis of Eli’s fighting style and how it relates specifically to the character and his motivation. If you check out the vid, you might also catch a few non-behind-the-scenes clips that weren’t in the trailers.

If you have a movie coming out next year, you were apparently supposed to release a poster today.  Already we’ve had new posters for Iron Man 2 and Clash of the Titans and now we have new posters for The Book of Eli as well as the first poster for Sex and the City 2.  Which one of these is not like the other…

A set of three characters posters for The Book of Eli come courtesy of IGN and feature what you can do with words that feature “eli” in the middle.  I’m planning on creating my own set of posters for the film with the words “Helicopter”, “Pelican”, and “Feline”.  As for Sex in the City 2 (courtesy of Moviefone), I like how it’s a double-entendre and a double-advertisement.  Not only do they use “Carrie” like “Carry” (because the main character’s name is Carrie!), but Carrie is carrying (so clever) a Chanel handbag.  I’m not sure what Sex in the City 2 is about, but it apparently involves Sarah Jessica Parker piloting a propeller plane or working as highway patrolwoman.

Hit the jump to check out all the posters. The Book of Eli opens on January 15, 2010, and  Sex and the City 2 opens on May 28, 2010.

Warner Bros. has released their 2010 schedule and included a bunch of first look images from some of their biggest films.  While in years past they would include a synopsis for each film to go along with the images, for now they’ve only provided a release date and the category it’s in.  Saying that, if you’d like to see the first images from Ben Affleck’s The Town, the new Kevin Smith movie starring Bruce Willis and Tracy Morgan, Hubble 3D, The Lottery Ticket, Flipped, Going the Distance, and a lot more, hit the jump and take a look.

A new poster for the upcoming post-apocalyptic action flick The Book of Eli has come online.  The film stars focuses on a lone hero (Denzel Washington) who guards the Book of Eli, which provides knowledge that could redeem society, but a despot (Gary Oldman) of a small, makeshift town plans to take possession of the book.  Directed by The Hughes Brothers (From Hell), the film co-stars Mila Kunis and will hit theaters on January 15, 2010.  Check out the poster after the jump.

With Warner Bros. Ninja Assassin set for release next week, the studio held a press day this afternoon here in Los Angeles.  While I’ll have plenty of video interviews for you to watch over the next few days, the first one I’d like to share is with producer Joel Silver.  Also, since Silver is producing tons of other projects like Sherlock Holmes, The Losers, Sgt. Rock, Lobo, Unknown White Male, and The Book of Eli, I figure his interview is the first one I should post.

While I didn’t get any major scoops, I did find out what’s up with Lobo and what does he think of Jeffrey Dean Morgan for the role.  Also, we talked about how Francis Lawrence landed the directing job on Sgt. Rock and does he think it might get made next year.  Of course many other subjects were talked about so watch the interview after the jump:

I’m loving these serious, dramatic actors kicking ass in action movies.  For Liam Neeson it was a new thing but Denzel’s a veteran with “Crimson Tide” and “Training Day” and “The Preacher’s Wife”.  But he’s taking it to a whole new level with “The Book of Eli” which should really just be called, “Denzel Washington Fucks Up Everyone,” The movie looks like it has a cool western-vibe to it except the protagonist has a clear mission from the start.  The trailer doesn’t really tell you anything about the movie beyond Denzel protects book, Gary Oldman wants book, Denzel fucks up everyone.  Works for me.

Check out the trailer after the jump.  “The Book of Eli” hits theatres on January 15^th, 2010.