Weekend Box Office Report Week: 3 January 25-27

Weekend Top 10

This week’s match-up at the box-office came down to one film
that makes a conscious effort to spoof violent cinema and another that can’t
help but be a parody of itself no matter how hard it tries not to be.  The difference was split by a mere few
hundred dollars but Fox’s Meet the Spartans finished by edging out Lionsgate’s
revival of the Rambo franchise with $18.5 million.  The directing team who brought you previous spoof masterpieces, Date Movie and Epic Movie, return with the latest in the franchise and show no
signs of slowing.  Despite the
critical consensus that this farce is anything but (and perhaps in spite of
it), the film managed a pretty healthy average in a modest theatre count.  Something tells me that a swift fall is
coming next week though.  Audiences
were less than impressed and jokes this flat usually fall pretty fast.

I’m not usually that guy who takes obscene pleasure in
rubbing it in people’s faces when I’m right but I’m going to make an exception
right now.  I … Told … You …
So.  After its record-breaking
opening weekend, Paramount’s Cloverfield suffers a monstrous blow and plummets
68% to finish in fourth place.  I
knew people would turn off this gimmicky nausea awful quickly but I can’t
discount the hordes of geeks that made sure they were first in line last
weekend.  Holding up much better in
its second frame is Fox’s 27 Dresses.  A few extra frames helped the Katharine Heigl vehicle earn a total of
$45 million.  I guess it was the
ladies’ turn to choose this weekend after the men dragged them to the monster
movie last weekend.

The question comes up every year around the time the
nominations are announced but here we find ourselves asking again if the
Academy Awards are still relevant.  Though only two of the five nominees for Best Picture finds itself in
the Top 10, four out of the five posted increases over last week.  I guess the jury is still out.  Aside from scoring four Oscar noms,
including Picture, Original Screenplay, Actress and Director, Fox Searchlight’s
pride and joy, Juno, has another reason to celebrate this week.  It officially crossed the century mark
and with another few weeks of relentless promo before the telecast, it is
certainly not done with us yet.  Paramount Vantage added almost 500 screens to its top contender,There Will Be Blood, allowing the Paul Thomas Anderson opus to crack the top 10 for
the first time in its limited run.  Another hefty chunk of screens will be added next week and the film will
finally be given the chance to show just how much oil it’s worth.  No Country for Old Men and Michael Clayton both added screens and dollars to their final tallies and found
themselves just outside the top 10.  Both films have been playing for over three months so their resources
are essentially tapped out.  Only Atonement, the movie no one expects to actually win Best Picture, found itself
dipping a little from last week’s take and falling out of the top 10.

Next week: Jessica Alba tries to matter a little longer with The Eye, Steve Zahn and Justin Long try to laugh it up Apatow-style with Stranger Wilderness and Hannah Montana gives everyone a run for their money with the Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour.