Box Office Update 4/6-4/8: Will Ferrell Skates to a Second Victory

I hope all of you had a Happy Easter at the movies. Comedy ruled the box office this weekend. Will Ferrell and his figure skating pals in Blades of Glory retained the top spot, slipping a mere 32%. Following right behind it is the latest Disney outing Meet the Robinsons, which also held onto a good chunk of its audience. These two were also the top two last week, for better or worse.

The top two films are proving to be crowd pleasers and are definitely a pair of the right films for a holiday weekend. Both of them offer up light entertainment that does not tax the brain, making for fun for all, and that seemed to be the order for the weekend.

Following the repeating duo are a trio of new releases, led by the Ice Cube's Are We Done Yet? I have to think that the $14 million take was something of a disappointment. I am not sure what the studio was expecting, but I thought that it, and its family friendly subject, would easily take the top spot. Well, it still was a fun movie.

Coming in fourth, in a big disappointment for the Weinstein Company, is the Quentin Tarantino/Robert Rodriguez vanity project Grindhouse. I didn't make it out over the weekend, but will be adding my cash to the pot in short order. I have to question the reasoning to release a film that pays homage to the low budget exploitation films on Easter weekend, and then expect a $25 million dollar open. That doesn't even get into the 3 hour plus runtime. But whatever, I still can't wait to see it.

Fifth place belongs to the Biblically themed, Hilary Swank starring thriller, The Reaping. I don't believe this is the right weekend for horror/thrillers, but at least this has the Biblical connection going for it, too bad that doesn't make it a good movie. I suspect that this half-baked film will slip down the charts in short order.

Meanwhile, 300 and Wild Hogs continue to do good business, drawing in the crowds still, more than month out from their respective releases. Wild Hogs is a surprise hit, and the studio has to be very pleased with its $145 million and climbing take. 300, on the other hand, is reaching rarified heights, it has climbed to $193 million so far, and is poised to cross the $200 million mark sometime next weekend, making only the eight R rated film to cross that plateau. That is a remarkable figure for a film that reached its projected entire take in its first weekend.

Next weekend should be interesting as there is a good sized slate of films prepared to make their presence known. Those films inclued Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Disturbia, Pathfinder, Perfect Stranger, Redline, and Slow Burn.

Four films dropped from the list this week: Premonition (11), Reign Over Me (12), The Hills Have Eyes 2 (14), and The Last Mimzy (15).

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	1	Blades of Glory	$22,522,330	$67,905,237	2
2	2	Meet the Robinsons	$16,715,437	$51,947,271	2
3	N	Are We Done Yet?	$14,262,724	$18,517,017	1
4	N	Grindhouse	$11,596,613	$11,596,613	1
5	N	The Reaping	$10,025,203	$11,958,518	1
6	3	300	$8,368,382	$193,402,459	5
7	5	Wild Hogs	$6,644,971	$145,260,566	6
8	6	Shooter	$5,856,494	$36,712,076	3
9	4	TMNT	$4,825,445	$46,607,331	3
10	N	Firehouse Dog	$3,838,916	$5,101,907	1

Box Office Predictions Recap
With the holiday weekend upon us, it was a little hard to pick this week, still I think I did decently overall. I would have thought that the Ice Cube family outing would have drawn stronger numbers, but it failed miserably next to what it actually did. As for my other prediction misfires, I don't feel that I did all that bad. My number placings were in the general vicinity of the actuals, and my figures were not gross over or under estimations. I am most happy with my predictions for Grindhouse, which was released on the wrong weekend, a tribute to the exploitation films of yesteryear is not quite the right match for Easter weekend, plus the 3 hour runtime and the hard to explain concept all combined to give the disappointed result, compared to the studio expectations of $20-25 million gross.
Anyway, here is how I picked the field:

Actual	Prediction	Title	Wknd Gross	Prediction
3	1	Are We Done Yet?	$14,262,724	$25 million
1	2	Blades of Glory	$22,522,330	$21 million
2	3	Meet the Robinsons	$16,715,437	$16 million
4	4	Grindhouse	$11,596,613	$15 million
6	5	300	$8,368,382	$8 million
5	6	The Reaping	$10,025,203	$7 million
9	7	TMNT	$4,825,445	$5 million
7	8	Wild Hogs	$6,644,971	$4 million
8	9	Shooter	$5,856,494	$3.5 million
11	10	Premonition	$3,091,107	$2 million