By Katey Rich
It was all about the kids and families this weekend, as Horton Hears A Who! scored a colossal $45 million opening weekend, the best so far in 2008. As Variety points out, it's the #3 animated March opener in history, behind fellow Blue Sky Studios productions Ice Age and Ice Age 2. Horton's $11,000 per-theatre average also easily clobbered the competition.
The rest of the weekend's new releases were left to fight over the scraps, though high school martial arts drama Never Back Down scored a surprising #3 berth, bringing in $8.6 million despite no major stars. Neil Marshall's horror epic Doomsday fared far worse, with $4.7 million and a #7 spot.
Doomsday may have been hampered by bad reviews, but probably not as badly as Funny Games was; it looks like the critical takes that called the movie "punishing" and "sadistic" did the trick, as the art-house horror thriller managed merely $520,000 from its 289 screens. Something tells me "meta-thriller that punishes the audience for buying a ticket" didn't spell "a great night at the movies."
The rest of the top 10 was made up of holdovers, all in pretty much the same order as last week. 10,000 B.C. saw a 54% drop in box office from last weekend, but still held on to a #2 spot and a $16 million take, just a fraction of Horton's winnings. College Road Trip, up against elephant-sized family fare, still held on strong, with $7.8 million and a #4 berth. Below it was the always-reliable Vantage Point, at #5 with $5.4 million, and The Bank Job, which saw a surprisingly low box-office drop of 17% and took in another $4.9 million, good for sixth place.
Semi-Pro continues sinking down the top 10, coming in at #8 this week with just $3 million; expect this comedy, once anticipated as a giant hit, to leave the top 10 entirely come next week. The Other Boleyn Girl keeps hanging on in a marketplace with zero wide-release films aimed toward women; it scored $2.9 million over the weekend and landed at #9. And rounding out the top ten is The Spiderwick Chronicles, which has owned the family market for the last few weeks; it added $2.3 million to its $65 million total gross.
Below the jump is Box Office Mojo's full top 20, which boasts some surprisingly small numbers; it looks like this weekend it was go Horton or go home. Just outside the 20 is the surprising fact that No Country for Old Men, despite being released on DVD last week, is playing on 500 theatres that brought in about $1,000 each. It's genuinely heartwarming to see that there are moviegoers still willing to trek out for the big-screen experience despite legal alternatives, especially for a movie as gorgeous on the big screen as No Country.
| TW | LW | Title (click to view) | Studio | Weekend Gross | % Change | Theater Count / Change | Average | Total Gross | Budget* | Week # | |
| 1 | N | Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! | Fox | $45,100,000 | - | 3,954 | - | $11,406 | $45,100,000 | $85 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | 10,000 B.C. | WB | $16,415,000 | -54.2% | 3,410 | - | $4,813 | $61,219,000 | $105 | 2 |
| 3 | N | Never Back Down | Sum. | $8,610,000 | - | 2,729 | - | $3,155 | $8,610,000 | $20 | 1 |
| 4 | 2 | College Road Trip | BV | $7,893,000 | -42.0% | 2,706 | - | $2,916 | $24,286,000 | - | 2 |
| 5 | 3 | Vantage Point | Sony | $5,400,000 | -26.6% | 2,761 | -402 | $1,955 | $59,200,000 | $40 | 4 |
| 6 | 4 | The Bank Job | LGF | $4,910,000 | -17.3% | 1,613 | +10 | $3,044 | $13,113,000 | - | 2 |
| 7 | N | Doomsday | Uni. | $4,743,000 | - | 1,936 | - | $2,449 | $4,743,000 | - | 1 |
| 8 | 5 | Semi-Pro | NL | $3,000,000 | -48.2% | 2,270 | -851 | $1,321 | $29,846,000 | - | 3 |
| 9 | 7 | The Other Boleyn Girl | Sony | $2,900,000 | -28.4% | 1,212 | +45 | $2,392 | $19,171,000 | - | 3 |
| 10 | 6 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | Par. | $2,390,000 | -49.3% | 2,407 | -839 | $992 | $65,430,000 | $90 | 5 |
| 11 | 8 | Jumper | Fox | $2,135,000 | -41.7% | 1,605 | -958 | $1,330 | $75,767,000 | $85 | 5 |
| 12 | 11 | Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day | Focus | $1,950,000 | -21.7% | 539 | +4 | $3,617 | $5,309,000 | - | 2 |
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| 13 | 10 | Fool's Gold | WB | $1,715,000 | -38.4% | 1,505 | -817 | $1,139 | $65,384,000 | $70 | 6 |
| 14 | 9 | Step Up 2 the Streets | BV | $1,502,000 | -51.0% | 1,546 | -705 | $971 | $55,429,000 | - | 5 |
| 15 | 13 | Juno | FoxS | $1,220,000 | -38.0% | 846 | -504 | $1,442 | $139,832,000 | - | 15 |
| 16 | 12 | Penelope | Sum. | $890,000 | -57.8% | 757 | -450 | $1,175 | $8,262,000 | - | 3 |
| 17 | 14 | Definitely, Maybe | Uni. | $714,000 | -57.5% | 649 | -907 | $1,100 | $30,708,000 | - | 5 |
| 18 | 16 | Be Kind, Rewind | NL | $635,000 | -45.5% | 452 | -294 | $1,404 | $10,040,000 | - | 4 |
| 19 | 18 | The Bucket List | WB | $620,000 | -39.7% | 595 | -445 | $1,042 | $90,221,000 | $45 | 12 |
| 20 | 17 | Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins | Uni. | $592,000 | -48.1% | 515 | -439 | $1,149 | $41,680,000 | $35 | 6 |
| 21 | 15 | No Country for Old Men | Mira. | $528,000 | -65.9% | 511 | -690 | $1,033 | $73,678,000 | - | 19 |
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