Monday, April 21, 2008

Weekend Roundup: The Boys Are Back In Town


By Katey Rich

Forbidden



If last weekend can serve as a template, all you have to do to bring in the box-office riches is appeal to the boys. The combination of a martial-arts drama, a raunchy comedy and holdovers in the action and horror genres put this weekend's box office at 4% over this time last year, the first uptick in many, many weeks. Forbidden Kingdom led the pack with a $20.8 million take, followed closely by Forgetting Sarah Marshall with $17 million; both performed pretty much according to expectations.



The utterly preposterous-seeming (and critically panned) Al Pacino thriller 88 Minutes even managed to find some love, coming in at #4 with a decent $6.8 million. It was bested by last weekend's #1, Prom Night, which scared up another $9.1 million to make a $32 million total gross-- big money for a throwaway horror remake.



The only other wide-ish release of the weekend, Ben Stein's intelligent-design documentary Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed, came in at #9 on just over 1,000 screens, with a $3.1 million gross.



Other holdovers didn't fare nearly as well as Prom Night did. Street Kings saw a steep 60% drop and fell to #7, taking in $4 million over the weekend. And in its second week Smart People fell out of the top 10 entirely, joining Leatherheads as another spring comedy packed with big names that just couldn't hold its own. The George Clooney comedy at least stuck around in the top 10, rounding out the bunch with $3 million.



The rest of the older films held in there just fine. Nim's Island continued to perform well, coming in at #5 with $5.6 million, and 21 stayed strong just behind it, at #6 with $5.5 million. Finally, Horton Hears a Who! remains an unstoppable beast; it made another $3.5 million, good enough for eighth place. The animated blockbuster is starting to shed theatres, but with no new PG-rated wide release coming out until Speed Racer, it will probably continue ruling the roost for a few more weeks.



Below the jump is the full top 20, where pretty much everything is on the way out. There are a few certified flops in there that actually made a surprising amount of money; Drillbit Taylor weaseled its way to $29 million, and Superhero Movie made $23 million. That's no major success, but given that both movies were made on the cheap, not so bad. Shine a Light, on the other hand, still can't catch a break; despite the extra fee tacked on to IMAX tickets and the massive baby-boomer appeal of The Rolling Stones, it's still only managed a $3 million payday. Looks like Mick isn't the only one who can't get no satisfaction.






























































































































































































































































TWLWTitle (click to view)StudioWeekend Gross% ChangeTheater Count / ChangeAverageTotal GrossBudget*Week #
1NThe Forbidden KingdomLGF$20,870,000-3,151-$6,623$20,870,000-1
2NForgetting Sarah MarshallUni.$17,348,000-2,798-$6,200$17,348,000$301
31Prom Night (2008)SGem$9,100,000-56.3%2,700-$3,370$32,564,000$202
4N88 MinutesSony$6,800,000-2,168-$3,136$6,800,000-1
54Nim's IslandFox$5,650,000-38.0%3,277-241$1,724$32,857,000$373
6321Sony$5,500,000-47.5%2,903+167$1,894$69,984,000$354
72Street KingsFoxS$4,000,000-67.9%2,469+2$1,620$19,879,000$202
86Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!Fox$3,500,000-40.9%2,670-539$1,310$144,407,000$856
9NExpelled: No Intelligence AllowedRM$3,153,000-1,052-$2,997$3,153,000-1
105LeatherheadsUni.$3,022,000-51.9%2,798+27$1,080$26,578,000$583
117Smart PeopleMira.$1,613,000-60.6%1,119+13$1,441$6,818,000-2
129Superhero MovieMGM/W$1,542,000-52.1%1,880-646$820$23,538,000-4
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138The RuinsP/DW$1,200,000-64.6%1,857-957$646$15,819,000-3
1410Drillbit TaylorPar.$900,000-56.0%1,367-838$658$29,787,000-5
1511Tyler Perry's Meet the BrownsLGF$670,000-56.9%675-495$992$41,130,000-5
161210,000 B.C.WB$585,000-60.4%855-695$684$92,808,000$1057
1716Shine a LightParV$581,000-39.5%220-57$2,640$3,769,000-3
1817Under the Same MoonWein.$555,000-41.8%454+4$1,222$11,157,000-5
1918College Road TripBV$407,000-52.9%650-362$626$42,919,000-7
2015The Bank JobLGF$370,000-62.7%473-329$782$29,164,000-7

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