Moviegoers went back in time and powered the prehistoric adventure 10,000 B.C.
to the top spot at the North American box office making it the latest film
panned by critics to shoot straight to number one with the paying public. The
Warner Bros. release bowed in 3,410 theaters to an estimated $35.7M and averaged
a sturdy $10,478 per site. A strong marketing push led by a brilliantly exciting
trailer helped to draw in a sizable audience which disregarded the dismal
reviews.
The opening was about half of the colossal $70.9M debut that the studio saw one
year ago this weekend with its other historical epic adventure
300. However, that was a
more stylized actioner which generated much more buzz and so B.C. was
never expected to come close to the Spartan heights. Instead, the prehistoric
pic opened stronger than many other big-budget spring action films like
V For Vendetta
($25.6M), Constantine
($29.8M), and Hidalgo
($18.8M).
Overseas, 10,000 B.C. conquered the box office in 19 of its 20 markets
grossing a combined $25.3M from 3,600 prints this weekend to boost the
international cume to $61M. The global take will break the $100M barrier within
days.
Disney claimed the runnerup spot with its kidpic College Road Trip
which grossed an estimated $14M from 2,706 theaters. Averaging a respectable
$5,174 per site, the G-rated film stars Martin Lawrence
and
Raven-Symone
as a father-daughter pair on a trip to see prospective universities. The
performance fell short of other Disney vehicles that tried to make a family man
out of macho stars. The studio’s
Vin Diesel pic The Pacifier
bowed to $30.6M in March 2005 while The Rock‘s The Game Plan
debuted to $23M last September. Trip used the starpower that Raven-Symone has
with young girls to help bring in its target audience.
Sony’s hit action thriller
Vantage Point
held up well again in its third frame and grossed an estimated $7.5M, off 42%,
for a cume to date of $51.7M. The Will Ferrell
comedy Semi-Pro
got clobbered in its second weekend tripping 62% to an estimated $5.8M. With
only $24.7M in ten days, New Line should end up with a disappointing $35M or so.
The new Jason Statham
heist pic The Bank Job
debuted in fifth place with an estimated $5.7M from 1,603 locations. Averaging a
mild $3,562 per theater, the R-rated actioner fell short of the actor’s recent
films like War and
Crank which both opened
in the neighborhood of $10M.
Kidpic The Spiderwick Chronicles
suffered a larger decline thanks to new family competition from Martin and
Raven. The Paramount title dropped 45% to an estimated $4.8M lifting the cume to
$61.7M. Sony’s The Other Boleyn Girl
followed with an estimated $4M, down 51%, for a $14.6M total. A $22-24M final
seems likely.
Three of the year’s top-grossing films rounded out the top ten. The Fox
sci-fi flick
Jumper
dropped 51% to an estimated $3.8M boosting the tally to $72.5M. Buena Vista’s Step Up 2 The Streets
fell 47% to an estimated $3M while the Warner Bros. adventure comedy Fool’s Gold
dipped 37% to an estimated $2.8M. Cumulative totals stand at $53M and $62.8M,
respectively.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $87.1M which was down 36% from last year
when 300 opened at number one with $70.9M; and off 2% from 2006 when
Failure to Launch
debuted in the top spot with $24.4M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya,
www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
