Saturday Update
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Warner Bros. seized control of the North American box office
on Friday with the explosive debut of its Spartan war epic 300
which grossed an estimated $27.7M setting a new record for the largest
opening day ever in the entire January-to-April corridor. The violent actioner
also generated the biggest opening day of any film since last year's top
grosser Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest
set sail last July. With sold out midnight shows beginning on Thursday
night, 300 is on its way to commanding
the third largest debut in history for an R-rated film behind only The
Matrix Reloaded ($91.8M in 2003) and The
Passion of the Christ ($83.8M in 2004). Intense upfront demand
for the stylish battle film should lead its Friday gross to account for
a high percentage of the whole three-day take. An astonishing $65-70M weekend
gross could result.
Fearing annihilation, competing studios stayed clear of going head-to-head against 300 with anything major leading the rest of the top ten on Friday to be filled with holdovers. Last weekend's number one film Wild Hogs remained strong in its second weekend and dipped only 34% to an estimated $7.7M. The Buena Vista comedy faced little competition from the Spartan epic and will post a solid sophomore gross. A Friday-to-Sunday tally of $26-29M seems likely. Among other holdovers, Friday-to-Friday declines were 50% for Zodiac, 37% for Ghost Rider, and 49% for Black Snake Moan. The top ten films grossed an estimated $46.2M on Friday which was up a towering 69% from a year ago when Failure to Launch opened at number one with $8.5M on its way to a weekend tally of $24.4M. It was the strongest Friday of 2007 thus far. For NEW reviews of 300 and The Host visit The Chief Report. Be sure to check back on Sunday night for the complete weekend box office report with official studio estimates. |
Last Updated: March 10, 2007 at 12:15PM ET
Written by Gitesh Pandya