According to the Box Office Mojo charts, 2012 took first place at the box office with $65 million, but was in just over 3,000 theaters. Precious made $6 million and was only in 174 theaters — which means its average per theater — $35,000 — is higher than 2012's $19,000 average.

Kudos go not only to the cast of Precious and director Lee Daniels, but to Sarah Siegel-Magness and her husband, Gary Magness, novice film investors who put up about $12 million to finance the movie. "No way, no studio would make a film about an overweight black girl," Lee Daniels tells the Wall Street Journal. Ms. Siegel-Magness says: "When I began to get outside counseling from Hollywood about what we had done, people were mortified… They told us we should have instead invested in this or that fund to make 11 different movies, that we were crazy for financing an African-American movie about incest." Since Precious has already grossed almost $9 million and hasn't gone nationwide yet, these "angel" investors certainly made a smart choice.

But despite financial achievements, Precious still faces some obstacles:
Though the movie will expand to 800-1,200 screens this weekend, sparkly vampire juggernaut New Moon will be in theaters as well, and will most likely crush the indie film in ticket sales.

Plus, there are some who still have criticism for the film: In a piece for the Washington Post, Malika Saada Saar writes:

I cannot recall another opportunity raised by popular culture that invited us to thoughtfully address the largely hidden issues of incest, violence and girls at the margins. As the executive director of a national organization that works to raise awareness about and to reduce violence against vulnerable women and girls, I am moved and grateful that attention is finally being paid to our forgotten girls.

But this movie is in many ways a fairy tale. The character Precious gets to be saved by a caring caseworker and a loving teacher. In real life, poor, undereducated and sexually victimized girls are most likely to end up in the juvenile justice system.

Still, at least the movie has people talking about "precious girls," living in the margins. And Saar does find promise in the film: "I hope that Lee Daniels's movie will change how girls at the margins are treated. Maybe, at long last, they will be considered precious girls — who deserve love, safety and healing. I hope this because right now, these precious girls everywhere are denied the happy endings of Hollywood movies. "

Box Office Haul: ‘2012' Wins, ‘Precious' Surges 200%, ‘This Is It' Sinks [BlackBook]
Weekend Studio Estimates [Box Office Mojo]
'Precious' Girls Without A Happy Ending [WaPo]
Novice Film 'Angels' Took Leap of Faith With 'Precious' [WSJ]
‘2012' Opening Earns $65 Million [NY Times]

The Love Guru:
The A.V. Club:

Pop-culture riffing, winking double entendres, scatological humor, and silly names aren't just the foremost weapons in Myers' comic arsenal, they're all he's got. Myers combines his love of references, silly names, and mindless repetition by having his guru use "Mariska Hargitay" as a greeting/mantra. The first time it's employed, it's merely unfunny; by the 13th or 40th time, it's almost hypnotic in its awfulness. Then again, given Myers' love of the tried-and-true, maybe Guru's compulsive comic recycling and endless repetition are intentional.

The New York Times:

…Which might sum up The Love Guru in its entirety but only at the risk of grievously understating the movie’s awfulness. A whole new vocabulary seems to be required. To say that the movie is not funny is merely to affirm the obvious. The word “unfunny” surely applies to Mr. Myers’s obnoxious attempts to find mirth in physical and cultural differences but does not quite capture the strenuous unpleasantness of his performance. No, The Love Guru is downright antifunny, an experience that makes you wonder if you will ever laugh again.

Chicago Sun-Times:

Myers has made some funny movies, but this film could have been written on toilet walls by callow adolescents. Every reference to a human sex organ or process of defecation is not automatically funny simply because it is naughty, but Myers seems to labor under that delusion.

Get Smart:
The A.V. Club:

For some unfathomable reason, Adams' original Max has been reconceived here as a considerably more competent operative, a brilliant analyst who can also kick a little ass when 99 isn't rescuing him from various scrapes. How is that funny? Carell will do anything for a laugh, and as with his character in The Office, Max's obliviousness to other people and to his own ineptitude plays to Carell's strengths. But Get Smart is too slick by half, and there's little in the script to support the star but a series of warmed-over spy games punctuated by pain humor and strained banter with Hathaway's snippy, scolding 99. In updating a beloved TV show, the filmmakers have gone out of their way to excise everything that was fun about it.

Chicago Tribune:

Missed it by that much. Actually, the new version of Get Smart misses by a fair-size margin. It's too bad. It's just trying to give us a good time at the retroplex. Even if you're 14 and you've never heard Irving Szathmary's classic deedley-deedley-deedley-deedley theme before, it's enough to make you smile. This is all any of these TV-to-screen comedies are after: a few laughs. Who knows? Get Smart, starring Steve Carell in the role originated by Don Adams (though initially offered to Tom Poston!), may well turn into a summer hit of the "well, it's good enough" variety.

E! Online:

Sadly, gags fall flat, one-liners lack pizzazz and the leads generate little chemistry. Sure, Carell is cute, and Hathaway looks sassy in multizippered leather jackets and slit-to-there gowns, but without snappier banter and greater sexual tension, their pseudo romance (even involving a flashback montage, ugh!) feels forced… Those seeking more entertaining fare would be, well, smart to look elsewhere.

Verdict: Oh hell, you knew The Love Guru was going to suck more than Get Smart! It stars Justin Timberlake in a comedic role! Get Smart may stink, but at least it has Steve Carell and Anne Hathaway to rescue it from being a complete mess.

Maybe if you are in the mood for some nostalgic movie-going you could go see Kit Kittredge: An American Girl instead.