Box Office Report: Memorial Day Edition

Dude here again, recovering from a painful night of drinking that actually had me waking up this morning and declaring "Dude, where's my car?". What makes it more impressive is that I said it to no one but myself. I seem to vaguely recall singing Tom Jones last night as well. I hope it was as cool as it appears... iN MY MIND!

This weekend, we finally see an end to the madness of "Who's Going To Break A Record And Make a Butt-Load Of Cash". Did Pirates beat itself or Spidey? Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Tuesday. Oh, and these are the four day totals, it being the holiday weekend and what not).

1. Pirates: At World's End (BV) - $142.055, 4362 screens, week 1, $156.055 total

2. Shrek The Third (Par/DW)- $69.085, 4172 screens, week 2, $219.4 total

3. Spider-Man 3 (Sony) - $18.0, 3723 screens, week 4, $307.6 total

4. Bug (LGF) - $4.2, 1661 screens, week 1, $4.2 total

5. Waitress (FoxSrch) - $4.0, 510 screens, week 4, $6.5 total

6. 28 Weeks Later (FoxA) - $3.3, 2013 screens, week 3, $24.4 total

7. Disturbia (Par/DW) - $2.4, 1632 screens, week 7, $74.9 total

8. Georgia Rule (Uni) - $2.38, 1904 screens, week 3, $16.8 total

9. Fracture (NL) - $1.6, 907 screens, week 6, $37.1 total

10. Wild Hogs (BV) - $1.4, 426 screens, week 13, $163.263 total

Ok, those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, Pirates broke the record for Memorial Day Weekend take, besting last year's X-Men 3. But it didn't beat the three day record Dead Man's Chest made last year, which Spiderman 3 beat a few weeks ago. Are you as sick of this stuff as I am? Allow me an analogy to these shenanigans: It's like I cured cancer, but I didn't win the Nobel Prize because someone else fixed global warming. Only in this case, it's a lot more shallow, because all these movies have made an obscene amount of money, more money than a person would ever make in three or four days (not to mention cancer research or global warming measures), and they're kind of pouting because they wanted to take in more.

Below the top nonsense, the only other wide release of the weekend, Bug, took in $4.2 million, though it's getting great reviews and looks pretty creepy. And yet, nobody's bothering to see it. Shrek had a solid second weekend. Spidey's losing steam. Waitress, though, it seems people are seeing, as it added almost 400 screens and charmed audiences to a 5th place. That's great. Oh, and what the hell is Wild Hogs doing back in the top ten? That's just like declaring it Bacon Day.

Beneath the radar, Luc Besson's Angel-A opened up on 7 screens and took in $37,000

And in the "Because It's There" series: Aqua Teen Hunger Force took in $12,000 on 34 screens, bringing it's grand total to $5,504,000 in 7 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week a bunch of smaller movies come in to relieve us of blockbuster pressure, including Knocked Up and Day Watch. But the pirates will continue to dominate in a disappointing second weekend. My prediction anyway.

Until next weekend.... (I promise to be more sober-ish)