Anyway, Max Payne took the number one spot as predicted. While, that has to be seen as a success, I cannot believe they are happy with the financial numbers. The movie took in just over $17.6 million over the weekend, while many were predicting a take north of $20 million. Of course, if the film had been better, who knows what it could have done. It will likely get clobbered next week as it begins its slide down the chart. Granted, the film does have some nicely composed shots, but they tried too hard with too little and the end result was a rather tired affair.
The Secret Life of Bees surprised many by finishing in third place, narrowly edging out W. Frankly, I am surprised that it did as well as it did, although I shouldn't be. The film was well received by critics and positive buzz was rising all around it as its release approached. I have not yet seen the film so I cannot comment on whether it lives up to the good word or not, but perhaps soon I will be able to. I do want to believe it is a case of a good movie defying expectations and finding an audience.
As mentioned above, the next film down the list is W. It is the biopic of our sitting President by one Oliver Stone. It is a movie that is simultaneously interesting and dull. It offers up a portrait of a man that is unlike what I expected. However, it seemed to drag through the middle, threatening to take me out of it. Anyway, it is the sort of movie that has to be a hard sell, considering the subject. That is a statement proven by a fourth place finish, yet disproven by the near sellout crowd I saw it with. Interesting. What will be even more interesting is how it fares over the next couple of weeks, will it sprout legs?
One other new film cracked the top ten and it came in down at number nine. The film is Sex Drive and the commercials want to make it the next Superbad, but something tells me that isn't going to happen. While I am sure it has its funny moments, I cannot believe it is a good movie. I am sure I will see it at some point but it is not at the top of my list. However, something tells me it won't last long.
Among the returning films, all had pretty good weekends, led by the surprising strength of Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Eagle Eye, a pair of films that, in the absence of something better, are doing quite well for themselves.
Next weekend will see the opening of a couple potential behemoths in the form of Saw V and High School Musical 3: Senior Year. How big will they be? Could be interesting. There is also the release of Pride & Glory, starring Edward Norton and Colin Farrell, while bringing up memories of We Own the Night.
Four movies dropped off the top ten this week: Fireproof (11), The Express (12), The Duchess (13), and Appaloosa (14).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | N | Max Payne | $17,639,849 | $17,639,849 | 1 |
| 2 | 1 | Beverly Hills Chihuahua | $11,422,425 | $69,282,560 | 3 |
| 3 | N | The Secret Life of Bees | $10,527,799 | $10,527,799 | 1 |
| 4 | N | W. | $10,505,668 | $10,505,668 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | Eagle Eye | $7,029,718 | $81,021,825 | 4 |
| 6 | 3 | Body of Lies | $6,824,259 | $24,424,928 | 2 |
| 7 | 2 | Quarantine | $6,084,580 | $24,471,512 | 2 |
| 8 | 5 | Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist | $3,693,384 | $26,500,875 | 3 |
| 9 | N | Sex Drive | $3,607,164 | $3,607,164 | 1 |
| 10 | 7 | Nights in Rodanthe | $2,657,440 | $36,869,470 | 4 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
Rather up and down week for me. I was only able to get the top two spots, but I can claim a better ratio on the gross prediction side of the coin. Now, I did do particularly well on any account, but I was surprisingly close for some. My biggest mistake would have to be underestimating the futures of The Secret Life of Bees, which came in third place, five places and $6 million higher than I was expecting. Granted the film looks good and has received positive word, helping prove the thought that audiences will show up for good movies.
Here is how the field matched up:
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 1 | 1 | Max Payne | $17,639,849 | $20 million |
| 2 | 2 | Beverly Hills Chihuahua | $11,422,425 | $11 million |
4 | 3 | W. | $10,505,668 | $10 million |
| 7 | 4 | Quarantine | $6,084,580 | $7.5 million |
| 6 | 5 | Body of Lies | $6,824,259 | $7 million |
| 9 | 6 | Sex Drive | $3,607,164 | $6 million |
| 5 | 7 | Eagle Eye | $7,029,718 | $5.5 million |
| 3 | 8 | The Secret Life of Bees | $10,527,799 | $4.5 million |
| 8 | 9 | Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist | $3,693,384 | $3.5 million |
| 12 | 10 | The Express | $2,191,810 | $2.5 million |
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