Box Office Report: The Day Before St. Patrick's Day

Dude here again. Gearing up for a hard day of celebrating the wonderful St. Patrick, the patron saint of Guiness. It's been an intense year of training, but I think I'm finally ready to handle my share of Irish Car bombs tomorrow! Should there be no box office report next week, it will be due to me losing out to the drink. Will it be worth it? Only time will tell.

This weekend, they finally get a Dr. Seuss adaptation correct. And it makes a truckload of money! Plus, some other surprises! 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 this column wrong).

1. Horton Hears a Who! (Fox) - $45.1, 3954 screens, week 1, $45.1 total

2. 10,000 B.C. (WB) - $16.4, 3410 screens, week 2, $61.2 total

3. Never Back Down (Sum)- $8.6, 2729 screens, week 1, $8.6 total

4. College Road Trip (BV) - $7.8, 2706 screens, week 2, $24.2 total

5. Vantage Point (Sony)- $5.4, 2761 screens, week 4, $59.2 total

6. The Bank Job (LGF) - $4.9, 1613 screens, week 2, $13.1 total

7. Doomsday (Rogue) - $4.7, 1936 screens, week 1, $4.7 total

8. Semi-Pro (NL) - $3.0, 2270 screens, week 3, $29.8 total

9. The Other Boleyn Girl (Sony) - $2.9, 1212 screens, week 3, $19.1 total

10. The Spiderwick Chronicles (Par) - $2.3, 2407 screens, week 5, $65.4 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? It means that people with far too much time on their hands will come up with little rhyming headlines based on Horton making lots of money. I will spare you all that. not because I'm lazy, but because I respect you. Anyway, Horton made a lot of money. It will probably continue to make lots of money, as the kids love the Dr. Seuss these days. Right?

Somehow, Never Back Down took third place. Seriously. I can't make this up. What hurts most about this is that Doomsday, which is actually a damn decent and fun flick, only took in about half of that of that. (A little more, really, but still). What is Never Back Down? And why is Doomsday getting such a bad reputation? It rules! And nobody's seeing it!

And audiences continue to recognize the brilliance of Roland Emmerich's 10,000 B.C.! That brings a smile to my face.

Below the top ten, the polarizing Funny Games opened up on 289 screens, and took in $520,000. Not bad, for what is essentially a shot for shot remake of a ten year old German film. I've heard that audiences and critics are not really responding favorably to the violence in the picture, but I've also heard that's the point. Just sayin...

And in the "Because It's Rambo" series: Rambo, took in $110,000 on 201 screens, bringing it's grand total to $42,617,000 in 8 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week, Owen Wilson has a new movie that Danny R. McBride costars in, which means the movie will promise at least five to ten minutes of genuine comic gold. There's probably something else that will open, too. But watch the animated elephant take it again.

Until next weekend....
(Wilfred Brimley. Prince of Thieves).