Weekend Box Office Report

Weekend Top 10

Gee- I guess Cloverfield is a hit…

Super producer J.J Abrams’s giant monster on the loose in NYC, shot in Blair Witch style thriller opened huge with about $46M over the 4 day Martin Luther King Holiday weekend. Cloverfield has been hyped on the net since the first teaser trailer was attached to Transformers back in the summer. Industry buzz was fairly strong, as the reviews have been fairly positive.  As the film only cost about $25M to make- Paramount Pictures must be thrilled- a good they as they’ve heavily invested in Abrams. His next film is the big budget Star Trek re-boot, due out this Christmas.

Coming in at the number 2 position, is the Katherine Heigl starrer- 27 Dresses– which opened with a solid $27M. Only costing about $35M, expect this film to quickly turn a tidy profit, and further establish Heigl as a bankable actress. That said, I expect the film to suffer a big drop off next weekend- as I doubt the film will have very strong legs.

Holding on stronger than expected is The Bucket List, which only slipped 16%- bringing it to over $40M since opening in limited release over the holidays. No one really expected this film to due well, as the reviews have been poor, and the film bombed in limited release. It definitely seems that this film is playing very well in the smaller markets. I imagine the film will continue to do well over the next few weeks. Also holding strong is Juno– which is proving to be the smash hit of the season. By next weekend it will cross $100M, and don’t expect the film to stop there, as it will likely continue to play well into the next month. I imagine that by this time next year we’ll be seeing a whole bunch of films featuring “smart-mouthed, wise beyond their years” teens.

First Sunday– which opened big last weekend, dropped a huge 46%- but that’s nothing compares to the Uwe Boll opus, In the Name of the King– which plummeted 76%, one of the biggest second week drops of all time. I doubt the dreadful box office performance will harm star Jason Statham’s career- as there’s not an actor alive that can salvage one of Boll’s films- which continue to inexplicably attract A List talent (re: tax shelters).

The Diane Keaton -starrer Mad Money, opened soft with just over $9M, not great for first time distributors Overture- but expect this film to turn a profit once it hits DVD. Holidays hits National Treasure: Book of Secrets, Alvin & The Chipmunks (ugh), & I Am Legend, continue to perform well- with each either clearing, or well on their way to reaching the magic $200M mark.

Meanwhile, art-house hit Atonement continues to add screens, and has made over $30M. Whether or not it will continue to perform well depends on the imminent Oscar nominations.

There Will Be Blood continues it’s expansion, and has done very well so far, adding $3.4M to its over $8M total.. Given the dark subject matter- it’s unlikely this film will break out like Juno, but I expect the film to continue doing extremely well due to the extremely positive word of mouth the film has received. Persepolis is also doing very well in limited release, with a great per screen average of over $10,000. Woody Allen’s latest- Cassandra’s Dream opened in limited release this weekend, but only managed a weak $4,205 per screen average- which does not bode well for future commercial prospects. Also opening in limited release is the indie horror flick Teeth– which managed a stronger than expect $9,475 per screen Given the fact that the film is about a woman who’s vagina bites off penises- this is not a bad performance at all.

Next week- RAMBO!!!!!!