Box Office Update for 5/12-5/14: Mission: Impossible III Sinks Poseidon

Tom Cruise and is Impossible Mission Force hang on to the top spot, fending of the floundering Poseidon. I am surprised that M:I:III was able to hang on to the top spot. I had figured that the Cruise backlash would be more severe than it has been. You have to admit, his antics have been downright bizarre, he has gone from being something of an all-American superstar, to a wacky Scientologist who jumps on couches, berates news anchors, and hooks his girlfriend up to a sonogram. Beyond that, I am happy to see it holding its own in its second week, this is a very good action film. It may not be forging new territory for the genre, but it is a solid, big time action movie, perfect for the big screen.

Poseidon, on the other hand shows that it's central conceit of the sinking ship has more than one meaning. I had thought it would do considerably better, but I guess the generally poor reviews poked a few more holes in the hull. I found the film to be entertaining, but incredibly brainless, sort of like watching a video game. Kurt Russell's presence helps lift the project, much like what Jeff Bridges did for Stick It. Plus, there is the lovely trio of Mia Maestro, Jacinda Barrett, and Emmy Rossum, that doesn't hurt the film either. Ultimately, this may have been too much money on a film that most people don't have a big interest in seeing.

The other wide release this week, Just My Luck, limped its way to fourth place. Lindsay Lohan's test as an adult character hasn't started off too well. It is a shame too, as I think she has the ability to be a good actress. She needs to get off the paparazzi map and into a good script. She showed her potential in Mean Girls, hopefully we will see better from her in the future. I really can't comment on this film as I haven't seen it, but I haven't seen much good about it.

Among the returning films, RV proved to be the strongest, dropping less than 10% from last week and finishing in third place. Many of the other films has strong showings this week as well with 6 films, including RV, dropping under 40% from last week. That is pretty impressive, usually there will be at least a few films with big dips. I had expected, no hoped, for big drop from An American Haunting, but sadly, it is still up there at number 5. Avoid that one, it's awful.

Two films dropped off the list this week: Silent Hill (11), and Scary Movie 4 (12). Both of which I had predicted to last 1 more week on the top ten. As for the rest of my predictions, I was bad this week. I had 1 and 2 reversed, as well as 3 and 4. I only pegged the 5th and 8th slots correctly. Three films in the top ten weren't even in my predictions! Hopefully I'll do better next week.

This Week	Last Week	My Guess	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	1	2	Mission: Impossible III	$25,008,971	$85,100,142	2
2	N	1	Poseidon	$22,155,410	$22,155,410	1
3	2	4	RV	$9,950,858	$43,271,427	3
4	N	3	Just My Luck	$5,692,285	$5,692,285	1
5	3	5	An American Haunting	$3,564,379	$10,814,081	2
6	5	7	United 93	$3,508,125	$25,555,100	3
7	4	-	Stick It	$3,166,426	$22,145,314	3
8	6	8	Ice Age: The Meltdown	$3,150,490	$187,570,805	7
9	9	-	Akeelah and the Bee	$2,403,420	$14,008,069	3
10	10	-	Hoot	$2,292,677	$6,380,246	2

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