Box Office Update 2/1-2/3: Hannah Montana Blows Dust in The Eye and Dominates the Weekend

Who woulda thunk it? Seriously, did anyone think that a Hannah Montana concert movie, with a presentation limited to 3D equipped theaters? Anyway, it set pre-sale records and became one of a select few films to open north of $20 million with a spread of fewer than 1000 theaters, and the only one to top the $30 million plateau. The only others I can think of are Borat and Fahrenheit 9/11, and this one beat out both of their opening grosses on fewer screens. The opening has been so good, that what was billed as a one week only engagement has been extended for a second weekend with the possibility for more, depending on continued support. And here I was thinking it would have a good showing with $10 million. Wow.

Coming in second place is the latest Asian horror remake, The Eye. Surprisingly, it was a halfway decent film filled with a creepy atmosphere and a nice slow burn build. Unfortunately, it is not supported by a quality screenplay. I suspect that it will slip rather quickly over the next couple of weeks. It is, however, much more worthy of being seen than the last Asian remake, One Missed Call.

There were two other new releases hitting wide release this past weekend, but neither had the strength to reach the top ten. First up is the Eva Longoria vehicle Over Her Dead Body. I thought for sure that it would have a decent opening. I guess I was wrong, as it opened with a lackluster $4 million to place eleventh. Opening even worse than that is the Happy Madison production Strange Wilderness, opening with $3 million and placing twelfth. To put that into perspective, Strange Wilderness opened at over 1,200 theaters while Hannah Montana opened at 683. Boggles the mind, doesn't it?

Among the returning films, it was either feast or famine. Three films dropped more than 60% from last week. One of those films was last week's top earner, Meet the Spartans (please let it just go away as quickly as possible). Right on its tale is Rambo, a wild action film that deserves to do better than it is, it is a spectacularly violent action film. Finally, another excellent film that inspires a love/hate reaction, Cloverfield. It opened strong, but is fading very fast.

At the other end of the spectrum are films like Juno, which climbed a spot, 27 Dresses, and There Will Be Blood, which slipped less than 5%. Those three films are all worth seeing, to varying degrees. Then there is The Bucket List, hanging on to its audience at a stronger rate than I would have predicted after seeing the film.

Next week will see new competition from the romcom adventure Fool's Gold, and the Martin Lawrence comedy Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins. Opening on fewer screens is a comedy concert film with an unwieldy title, Vince Vaughn's Wild West Comedy Show: 30 Days & 30 Nights - From Hollywood to the Heartland. Now, if you are especially lucky, you will get the opportunity to see the latest Paris Hilton "film" called The Hottie & the Nottie.

Two movies dropped off the top ten this week: National Treasure: Book of Secrets (13) and Mad Money (17).

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	N	Hannah Montana	$31,117,834	$31,117,834	1
2	N	The Eye	$12,425,776	$12,425,776	1
3	3	27 Dresses	$8,529,845	$57,245,093	3
4	1	Meet the Spartans	$7,336,595	$28,543,340	2
5	2	Rambo	$7,120,649	$29,918,795	2
6	7	Juno	$7,014,579	$109,828,029	9
7	6	The Bucket List	$6,725,460	$67,546,573	6
8	5	Untraceable	$5,076,537	$19,127,089	2
9	4	Cloverfield	$4,842,031	$71,915,658	3
10	9	There Will Be Blood	$4,654,162	$21,038,955	6

Box Office Predictions Recap
Wow. I knew the Hannah Montana flick would open well, but there is no way I could have predicted the enormous reception it received, as evidenced by it finishing nearly three times higher than I predicted. Now, considering how awful my placement was, I did a pretty good job on the majority of the gross predictions, excepting Hannah Montana of course. Aside from that big underestimation my other big faux pas was predicting Over Her Dead Body to finish sixth, when it failed to even crack the top ten. Well, there's always next week!

Here is how the field matched up:

Actual	Prediction	Title	Wknd Gross	Prediction
2	1	The Eye	$12,425,776	$14.5 million
5	2	Rambo	$7,120,649	$11 million
1	3	Hannah Montana	$31,117,834	$10 million
3	4	27 Dresses	$8,529,845	$8.5 million
6	5	Juno	$7,014,579	$8 million
11	6	Over Her Dead Body	$4,025,115	$7.5 million
10	7	There Will Be Blood	$4,654,162	$7 million
4	8	Meet the Spartans	$7,336,595	$7 million
8	9	Untraceable	$5,076,537	$5 million
9	10	Cloverfield	$4,842,031	$4 million