Spartans Spank Cavemen
March 11, 2008
10,000 B.C. may have won the weekend with ease, but it wasn't able to come close to 300. Even if it had, the overall weekend would have still been behind last year's pace. Overall this weekend, movies brought in $107 million, which was 10% more than last weekend. However, it was a massive 30% lower than the same weekend last year. 2008 still has an advantage over 2007 at $1.67 billion to $1.61 billion, but ticket sales are now nearly identical.
10,000 B.C. was able to overcome terrible reviews and an uninspired ad campaign to take in $35.87 million over the weekend. This is just over the film's reported production budget, which is an amazing feat to accomplish. The film's internal multiplier wasn't as bad as expected, and $100 million isn't out of the question as long as it doesn't collapse next weekend. Even if it does, it will be able to show a profit sometime during its international run.
College Road Trip was a little weaker than expected as it pulled in $13.60 million, which was about 10% lower than Thursday's prediction. As for the film's long term chances, its reviews are barely above the single-digit range and there's nearly direct competition next weekend for its target demographic. It could still reach $40 million, but less is a lot more likely now.
Vantage Point matched expectations nearly perfectly with $7.36 million over the weekend. However, thanks to weaker than expected competition, it was able to grab third place. The film has earned $51.54 million so far, which is already more than original expectations and is with the expected range of its production budget. Excellent news.
Likewise, The Bank Job earned $5.94 million, which was close to Thursday's prediction, albeit a little on the south side. However, that was still enough to finish one place higher than expected. Strangely, of the three wide releases, this film earned the best reviews but the weakest box office, smallest theater count, and lowest per theater average. It should do much, much better on the home market.
Finally, Semi-Pro completely collapsed this weekend, down more than 60% to just $5.79 million over the weekend and $24.72 million after 10 days. That's a result Will Ferrell would like to forget.
Moving onto the sophomore class, The Other Boleyn Girl saw its weekend haul sliced in half to $4.05 million for the weekend and $14.66 million in total. Penelope held up better, down 45% to $2.11 million over the weekend and $6.76 million in total.
Filed under: Vantage Point, College Road Trip, Semi-Pro, The Bank Job, The Other Boleyn Girl, Penelope, 10,000 B.C.