Box Office Report: 4-8-07

Dude here again, taking a break from womanizing and taking over corporate America (the key to it is one person at a time, which I guess works for both activities) to remind my friends of the site that I do indeed occasionally string words together into sentences. Sometimes coherent, sometimes not. Sometimes, it's just numbers, but when those numbers are assembled, I can provide for you the... what the hell is that noise? It sounds like there's a cricket in my room. It's freaking me out.

This weekend, four new challengers stepped up to the plate, some on Wednesday, one on Thursday, and one on Friday. (Holiday weekend and what not). None of them really made a dent. And that means less cutting and pasting of the template, which means I am happy. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Monday. Just to prove me wrong).

1. Blades of Glory (Par/DW) - $23.0, 3410 screens, week 2, $68.38 total

2. Meet The Robinsons (BV) - $17.0, 3435 screens, week 2, $52.2 total

3. Are We Done Yet? (Sony) - $15.0, 2877 screens, week 1, $19.06 total (wed. open)

4. Grindhouse (WeinCo/Dim) - $11.59, 2624 screens, week 1, $11.59 total

5. The Reaping (WB) - $10.08, 2603 screens, week 1, $12.0 total (thurs. open)

6. 300 (WB) - $8.8, 2674 screens, week 5, $193.88 total

7. Wild Hogs (BV)- $6.8, 2825 screens, week 6, $145.45 total

8. Shooter (Par) - $5.8, 2353 screens, week 3, $36.656 total

9. TMNT (WB) - $4.9, 2811 screens, week 3, $46.7 total

10. Firehouse Dog (Fox) - $4.0, 2860 screens, week 1, $5.25 total (wed. open)

Ok, those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that when Will Ferrell does wacky sports comedies, people will come. Again and again, apparently. Dropping only 30% from last week's haul, Blades of Glory is fast tracking it's way to becoming yet another $100 million maker. Bizarre grouping of films up there: 300, Wild Hogs, and Ghost Rider, with Norbit just peaking around the corner.

Of the newbies, Are We Done Yet? fared best, opening on Wednesday and taking in a pretty penny, despite some horrible reviews. And yet, the reviewers were kinder than they were with The Reaping, which provoked actual hatred out of some critics. I'm dead serious. It was creepy. The Rodriguez/Tarantino double feature Grindhouse opened to a slightly disappointing fourth place, but when a movie runs over three hours and doesn't contain a hobbit, pulling in $11 million dollars is nothing to ignore. I hope it continues to perform steadily over the next few weeks, because right now it's the best flick in theaters. (This will change in two weeks when Hot Fuzz is released, because that movie is BOSSOME!).

And what the hell is Firehouse Dog, and how does it bilk $5 million dollars out of people? Seriously?!?

And in the "Because It's There" series: Paul Verhoeven's latest Black Book took in $120,000 on 9 screens, bringing it's grand total to $145,000 in 1 week. (It opened on Wednesday)

There you have my break down. Next week, we have a movie where Karl Urban plays a Native American who's actually a forgotten viking child, and the natives battle the vikings. This will either be amazing or god-awful. Time and money (and countless internet critics) will be the judge of that.

Until next weekend....