Retro IONCINEMA.com
Weekend Box-Office Report: February 15-17
Jumper leaps into first!
Weekend Top 10
| # | Title | GROSS | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
| 1 | Jumper | $27.2M | — | 3,428 | 1 | 7,941 | $33.9M | Fox |
| 2 | Step Up 2 the Streets | $19.7M | — | 2,470 | 1 | 7,961 | $26.3M | Buena Vista |
| 3 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | $19.1M | — | 3,847 | 1 | 4,959 | $21.4M | Paramount |
| 4 | Fool’s Gold | $13.1M | -39.4 | 3,125 | 2 | 4,185 | $42.0M | Warner Bros. |
| 5 | Definitely, Maybe | $9.7M | — | 2,204 | 1 | 4,395 | $12.8M | Universal |
| 6 | Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins | $8.9M | -45.2 | 2,387 | 2 | 3,720 | $29.1M | Universal |
| 7 | Juno | $4.6M | -17.4 | 1,865 | 11 | 2,479 | $124.1M | Fox Searchlight |
| 8 | The Bucket List | $4.1M | -22.2 | 2,307 | 8 | 1,779 | $81.9M | Warner Bros. |
| 9 | Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour | $3.3M | -68.1 | 685 | 3 | 4,801 | $58.4M | Buena Vista |
| 10 | 27 Dresses | $3.2M | -41.3 | 1,936 | 5 | 1,639 | $69.9M | Fox |
Every year, Valentine’s Day places much pressure on those in
relationships to plan a perfectly romantic evening. Those not interested in such grand fanfare often opt for a
simple evening of dinner and a movie. How simple is this though? Tell me, once the dessert is cleared, who gets to choose the movie? From the looks of this week’s box
office returns, I’d say the men had their say as Doug Liman’s latest action
flick, Jumper leapt past its more
female skewed competition to the tune of $27 million.
All of this week’s wide releases got a head start on the
weekend by opening on Thursday, love day itself. At the time Jumper and
adolescent dance sequel, Step Up 2 the Streets were neck and neck but almost 1000 more screens
allowed for the former’s place finish. Still, despite returning with an all new cast of dancers that can bounce
back and forth between hip-hop and ballet, Step Up 2 outperformed its predecessor, ensuring the dancing
will continue for weeks to come.
Three films opened higher than $20 million this weekend,
when you consider their full four-day take. Still, the third entry borders on disappointment The Spiderwick Chronicles played ultrawide and only managed a per screen
below $5,000. The $90 million
dollar kiddie epic will need to generate some major buzz on the playground to
hold up in the weeks ahead or pray for some international love to save it from
the red.
Two titles showed remarkable endurance in the Top 10 this
week. Everyone’s favorite pregnant
teenager, Juno, dropped over 450
screens and still managed to only fall off by a scant 17%. It’s nice to see such a warm film
surpass expectations that were already surpassed ten times over. Meanwhile, catering to an audience that
might find Juno to be in an
entirely different language, The Bucket List dropped a similar amount of screens and fell off
just slightly more. Clearly, these
two have struck the right chord with the right people.
Last week’s champ, Fool’s Gold, held up well in week two, dropping off 39%. This is no doubt thanks to the lovers’ holiday and not good
word of mouth as I’m fairly certain the film has none.
Next Week: It was a slow week for specialty titles but that
will change next week when the latest by visionary, Michel Gondry, Be Kind
Rewind, starring Jack Black and Mos Def,
hits the big screen and the delayed Charlie Bartlett finally sees the light of day. With the Dennis Quaid / Forest Whitaker
“The president has been shot!” thriller, Vantage Point, opening on three times the amount of screens as
any other release though, there is no question as to what will end up on top –
no matter what your angle is. I
don’t care mind you, as long as I never have to see that trailer again.
