"Brokeback" Update -- Vaults Into Box Office Top Ten

Americablog's favorite gay cowboy movie of the year went wider this weekend, playing on 69 screens. (No jokes, please; too easy.) It grossed $2.4 million (for about $3.3 mil total), vaulting it into the Top Ten, which is a terrific accomplishment given how few screens it's playing on. Don't despair if you don't live in a major market -- they're going to be expanding the release even faster than expected because of the extraordinary critical acclaim and red-hot box office. It will certainly gross $30 mil, making it very profitable. If it hits $50 mil, consider that blockbuster territory for a movie that cost only $13 mil to make.

Frank Rich of the NYT has a nice piece on why "Brokeback Mountain" is a landmark and its success so disheartening to the bigoted religious right. (You need that TimesSelect access to read it.)

And happy birthday to Jake Gyllenhaal, who turns 25 today. Heath Ledger has the flashier acting role (he gets to mumble and lash out violently, etc.) but Jake is terrific, too, and I think part of the reason he's been overlooked is because Jake plays the bottom. I'm not kidding. Any thoughts?