By Katey Rich
Yeah, yeah, Oscar nominations, whatever. Let's talk about what really matters: money. It may come as a surprise to you, but a movie that was heavily promoted on the Internet and that taps into a passionate sci-fi fanbase made money, a lot of it, this weekend. Cloverfield benefited from the hype-to end-all-hype and scored $46 million at the box office, almost $20 million more than the damn thing cost to make, which sets a new record for the Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend.
Debuting just as strongly given its expectations was 27 Dresses, which came in at #2 with $22 million, possibly snaring all the girlfriends of the Cloverfield fanboys who didn't want to see New York get blown up for the zillionth time. It came in way ahead of #3-finisher The Bucket List, which netted $14 million over the three-day period. The only other new release of the weekend, Mad Money, brought in $7.6 million to land at #7.
Juno stayed healthy in its seventh week in release, bringing in almost $10 million for a fourth-place finish. Its fellow Best Picture nominee Atonement rounded out the top ten once again, bringing in $4.7 million by expanding wider once again. It just edged out There Will Be Blood, which gave up its top per-theatre average spot by venturing on its first wide expansion, but got $2.9 million and a #11 spot for its trouble (Cloverfield had the best per-theatre average this time, at a whopping $11,000; Blood came in second with a still-impressive $7,500).
The rest of the top ten was filled out with the usual suspect holdovers, with First Sunday bringing in $7.8 million and dropping to #5 in its third week. Right behind it was National Treasure: Book of Secrets, at $7.6 million in sixth place. Alvin and the Chipmunks and I Am Legend fell in at #8 and #9, respectively, with $6.9 million and $4.8 million apiece.
Check out the top 20 below, thanks to Box Office Mojo as always, where you can catch up on some of the Oscar nominees that were (No Country for Old Men, Charlie Wilson's War), and weren't (The Great Debaters, what happened?) Also, there are still more people seeing One Missed Call than Sweeney Todd, which defies everything all the politicians running for office right now are saying about America being a country worth fighting for. Trust me, Sweeney has more blood, more logic, and more Johnny Depp, which in any sane country would be an unbeatable combination.
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Cloverfield | Par. | $40,037,000 | - | 3,411 | - | $11,737 | $40,037,000 | $25 | 1 |
| 2 | N | 27 Dresses | Fox | $22,750,000 | - | 3,057 | +2,442 | $7,441 | $22,750,000 | $30 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | The Bucket List | WB | $14,010,000 | -27.8% | 2,915 | +4 | $4,806 | $41,569,000 | $45 | 4 |
| 4 | 3 | Juno | FoxS | $9,925,000 | -27.1% | 2,534 | +86 | $3,916 | $85,052,000 | - | 7 |
| 5 | 2 | First Sunday | SGem | $7,800,000 | -56.0% | 2,213 | - | $3,524 | $28,466,000 | - | 2 |
| 6 | 4 | National Treasure: Book of Secrets | BV | $7,609,000 | -32.7% | 2,963 | -414 | $2,568 | $197,492,000 | - | 5 |
| 7 | N | Mad Money | Over. | $7,600,000 | - | 2,470 | - | $3,076 | $7,600,000 | - | 1 |
| 8 | 5 | Alvin and the Chipmunks | Fox | $6,900,000 | -25.8% | 2,962 | -422 | $2,329 | $196,280,000 | $60 | 6 |
| 9 | 6 | I Am Legend | WB | $4,870,000 | -40.5% | 2,525 | -828 | $1,928 | $247,447,000 | - | 6 |
| 10 | 10 | Atonement | Focus | $4,759,000 | +12.7% | 1,291 | +341 | $3,686 | $31,884,000 | - | 7 |
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