Weekend Roundup: 'Prom Night' Is Beautiful

By Katey Rich

Sorry for the absence of the weekend roundup on Friday-- a sick day took precedence even over sorting through the critical mass. The critics weren't too happy with this weekend's offerings, though, and it showed at the box office. Revenue was nearly 20% behind what it was this time last year, says Variety, and attendance is down almost 7% overall so far. That will leave a whole lot of studios, and some people here at Nielsen Film Group too, nervous about the state of things until Iron Man, Speed Racer and their ilk hopefully show up to save the day.

In any case, there was still room for a surprise hit even in a downtime, with Prom Night sneaking in to take the top spot. The horror remake brought in $22 million from 2,700 theatres, much more than enough to topple its fellow new wide release, Street Kings. The Keanu Reeves police drama made $12 million from nearly 2,500 theatres.

Despite two new releases to appeal to its core youth audience, 21 stayed strong at #3, coming in just behind Street Kings with $11 million. It edged out the newer Nim's Island, which dropped to #4 in its second weekend with a $9 million haul. Nim's continues outperforming its fellow new release from last weekend, Leatherheads; George Clooney's football movie underperformed again over the weekend, coming in at #5 with $6.2 million. Though last weekend Leatherheads was neck-in-neck with Nim, the family adventure comedy seems to be the one with lasting staying power.

The other major newbie of the weekend, the moderately wide release Smart People, didn't find too much fortune. It came in at #7 with $4.2 million, not nearly enough to beat powerhouse holdover Horton Hears a Who! (#6, $6 million). Behind Smart People and rounding out the top ten were three holdovers that have been largely written off as box-office failures; The Ruins made $3.3 million at #8, Superhero Movie pulled in $3.1 million at #9, and Drillbit Taylor ends its run in the top 10 with $2 million.

After the jump is the full top 20, where Shine a Light, Stop-Loss and La Misma Luna (Under the Same Moon) struggle to find audiences, Run, Fat Boy, Run prepares to slip off into the sunset, and Vantage Point, one way or another, keeps bringing in audiences.

TW	LW	Title (click to view)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count / Change		Average	Total Gross	Budget*	Week #
1	N	Prom Night (2008)	SGem	$22,700,000	-	2,700	-	$8,407	$22,700,000	-	1
2	N	Street Kings	FoxS	$12,000,000	-	2,467	-	$4,864	$12,000,000	-	1
3	1	21	Sony	$11,000,000	-28.3%	2,736	+83	$4,020	$62,268,000	$35	3
4	2	Nim's Island	Fox	$9,000,000	-31.9%	3,518	+5	$2,558	$25,280,000	$37	2
5	3	Leatherheads	Uni.	$6,207,000	-51.1%	2,771	+2	$2,239	$21,907,000	$58	2
6	4	Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who!	Fox	$6,000,000	-34.2%	3,209	-362	$1,869	$139,628,000	$85	5
7	N	Smart People	Mira.	$4,200,000	-	1,106	-	$3,797	$4,200,000	-	1
8	5	The Ruins	P/DW	$3,250,000	-59.4%	2,814	+2	$1,154	$13,413,000	-	2
9	6	Superhero Movie	MGM/W	$3,114,000	-42.5%	2,526	-439	$1,232	$21,202,000	-	3
10	8	Drillbit Taylor	Par.	$2,070,000	-39.2%	2,205	-502	$938	$28,461,000	-	4
11	7	Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns	LGF	$1,570,000	-54.1%	1,170	-384	$1,341	$40,113,000	-	4
12	10	10,000 B.C.	WB	$1,510,000	-46.0%	1,550	-785	$974	$91,785,000	$105	6
13	11	Stop-Loss	Par.	$1,110,000	-51.1%	1,305	+11	$850	$10,033,000	$25	3
14	9	Shutter	Fox	$1,050,000	-62.9%	1,435	-690	$731	$24,838,000	-	4
15	13	The Bank Job	LGF	$1,020,000	-40.5%	802	-387	$1,271	$28,449,000	-	6
16	12	Under the Same Moon	Wein.	$1,010,000	-41.6%	450	+11	$2,244	$10,394,000	-	4
17	15	Shine a Light	ParV	$982,000	-34.0%	277	+1	$3,545	$2,909,000	-	2
18	14	College Road Trip	BV	$834,000	-50.9%	1,012	-693	$824	$42,271,000	-	6
19	16	Run Fat Boy Run	PicH	$603,000	-55.9%	534	-581	$1,129	$5,447,000	$10	3
20	18	Vantage Point	Sony	$570,000	-47.4%	575	-553	$991	$71,953,000	$40	8