Box Office Update for 3/7-3/9: 10,000 B.C. Proves a Modern Day Success

Without the lack of significant competition, what with the collapse of Semi-Pro last week, and with America's seeming desire to get out to the movies, 10,000 B.C. easily won the weekend, taking in $35 million, twice its nearest competitor. Or perhaps this was another case of marketing winning the weekend in spite of the mediocre quality of the film it represents (much like Vantage Point a couple of weeks back), considering the everywhere presence the commercials have had. Whatever the reality is, the film is not terribly good, but it does provide some big screen drama until the next best thing comes along.

Its nearest competitor is the latest Disney flick, College Road Trip. This is also the second Martin Lawrence film so far this year, and his last one, Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins, just recently exited the top ten after spending a few weeks on the chart. This one will likely spend a few weeks there as well. I cannot say that I have any interest in seeing it, but while I was at the multiplex on Friday I came across a young lady who was in the film, out with her family to catch it on opening night. I did not catch her name, but did not get the impression that she had a major role in it, likely it was one of her first screen roles. The all looked excited to be there, and I would be too if I had been in their shoes.

There was one other new release to reach the charts this week, The Bank Job, The Jason Statham starring heist picture finished in fourth place, a respectable open for a film that has seemingly modest aspirations. It is based on an actual bank robbery that took place in London in 1971 that has never been solved. The film is a solid entry in the genre and proved to be very entertaining, and surprisingly complex despite its straight forward nature.

Among returning films, Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro continued its subpar performance. It tumbled out of first place, where it opened with half of what was expected. It slipped more than 60%, thus falling to fifth place in its second weekend. This does not bode well for its immediate future. I suspect that the marketing is going to turn towards DVD in order to recoup some of its pride.

On the other side of the coin, Fool's Gold may be landing lower and lower on the charts, but its dropoff has been pretty decent. It slipped 36% from last week as its gross crosses the $60 million mark. The rest of the returning films did moderately well, with drops in the 40-50% range.

Next week will see the release of the Dr. Seuss adaptation Horton Hear's a Who, which will likely steal the top spot with the wide demographic net that it will cast. Also joining the fray will be Doomsday from director Neil Marshall (The Descent), a film likely to attract the cult audience. Finally, Never Back Down hits the screens looking like Step Up for guys with fighting replacing the dancer sequences.

Three movies dropped off the top ten this week: Penelope (12), Definitely, Maybe (14), and No Country for Old Men (15).

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	N	10,000 B.C.	$35,867,488	$35,867,488	1
2	N	College Road Trip	$13,601,419	$13,601,419	1
3	2	Vantage Point	$7,356,236	$51,536,985	3
4	N	The Bank Job	$5,935,256	$5,935,256	1
5	1	Semi-Pro	$5,786,032	$24,721,340	2
6	3	The Spiderwick Chronicles	$4,712,945	$61,633,488	4
7	4	The Other Boleyn Girl	$4,048,026	$14,660,260	2
8	5	Jumper	$3,662,375	$72,446,523	4
9	6	Step Up 2: The Streets	$3,062,501	$53,016,888	4
10	7	Fool's Gold	$2,782,416	$62,802,900	5

Box Office Predictions Recap
Seven out of ten places correct. Not too shabby. I think what surprised me the most this week was the Semi-Pro drop off. I knew that it was likely to drop a bunch, but i did not think it would be north of 60%. I guess I should be happy that the word of how bad it is got out, allowing people to move onto something better sooner rather than later. I was also surprised how well 10,000 B.C. did , I thought it would be upwards of $20 million, but not $30 million. I wonder if word will contribute to a precipitous second week? The movie is not all that good.

Here is how the field matched up:

Actual	Prediction	Title	Wknd Gross	Prediction
1	1	10,000 B.C.	$35,867,488	$25 million
2	2	College Road Trip	$13,601,419	$17 million
5	3	Semi-Pro	$5,786,032	$8.5 million
4	4	The Bank Job	$5,935,256	$7 million
3	5	Vantage Point	$7,356,236	$6 million
6	6	The Spiderwick Chronicles	$4,712,945	$5 million
7	7	The Other Boleyn Girl	$4,048,026	$4 million
8	8	Jumper	$3,662,375	$3.5 million
9	9	Step Up 2: The Streets	$3,062,501	$3 million
11	10	Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day	$2,490,942	$2.5 million