Weekend Recap: March 7 - 9
10,000 BC poster
By Philip Friedman     Published March 10, 2008
It’s an excellent March opening, but it stands in the shadow of last year’s shockingly high $70.9 million opening by 300.
Despite horrible reviews, 10,000 B.C.'s effect-filled trailer was enough to support a strong $35.9 million opening, which was in line with expectations. It’s an excellent March opening, but it stands in the shadow of last year’s shockingly high $70.9 million opening by 300. That movie enjoyed much better word of mouth and critical response (300 clocked in with 60% fresh vs. 10,000 B.C. which can’t even break double-digits at 7% fresh at RottenTomatoes) and finished its box office run with $210.6 million (just under 3x multiplier). B.C. likely won’t be that lucky in terms of box office longevity given likely negative word of mouth and will need a strong push by Warner Bros. to break $100 million.

In second place, College Road Trip managed to collect a respectable $13.6 million opening. Disney took a risk distributing a G-rated movie with “college” and “road trip” in the title and Martin Lawrence in the lead (Lawrence’s last G-rated movie was voice work for Open Season). Wild Hogs certainly delivered for Disney with an almost $40 million opening, but Lawrence had an ensemble cast and a PG-13 rating to work with. Ice Cube’s Are We Done Yet opened with $14.3 million and finished just shy of $50 million. College Road Trip might follow a similar track.

The Bank Job certainly was an improvement from Jason Statham’s last opening, In The Name of the King. Bank Job opened with $5.9 million, out-grossing King’s entire theatrical run by over a million. None of Statham’s last five openings have ended their theatrical run with more than 2.8 times their weekend openings and it’s unlikely that his latest effort will break that trend. A total gross of $16 million would be optimistic.

The overall box office took a steep 35% dive from the comparable weekend from 2007 (March 9 – 11, 2007) due to the one-two punch of 300 and Wild Hogs that combined for $98.5 million, more than the entire top 12 in 2008 (around $92 million). However, next weekend may give 2008 a chance to catch up with 2007 if Horton Hears a Who performs strongly.
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