Weekend Box Office (March 30 - April 1, 2007)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND Will Ferrell scored the gold medal at the North American box office with his latest comedy Blades of Glory which skated to a top spot bow. Disney settled for a silver for its new animated kids offering Meet the Robinsons which debuted impressively as well. Each film had room to connect with its target audience without eating into the other's business. Holdovers saw mixed results with some seeing moderate declines while others tumbled.

Grossing $33M in its first weekend, according to final studio figures, the Paramount release Blades of Glory easily led the frame during the final weekend of a robust March box office. The PG-13 film averaged a stellar $9,791 from 3,372 locations. Studio research indicated that the audience was split evenly between males and females and that 74% of the crowd was under 35. Blades was produced for just over $60M and was the fifth film of the first quarter to open above $30M - a new industry record.

Opening in second with a strong showing of its own was Meet the Robinsons with $25.1M from 3,413 locations for a $7,361 average. The CG toon was Disney's third consecutive bow north of $20M following Bridge to Terabithia and Wild Hogs. Robinsons carries a G rating and played to a family audience.

After leading the charts last weekend with the top two films, Warner Bros dropped to third and fourth, respectively. with 300 and TMNT. The Spartan epic dropped 42% to $11.4M and pushed its remarkable cume to $179.9M. The Ninja Turtles pic saw a direct hit from rival toon Meet the Robinsons and tumbled 62% to $9.2M giving the crime fighters $38.5M in ten days.

The motorcycle comedy Wild Hogs followed in fifth with $8.7M, off 38%, for a total of $135.6M for Buena Vista. Paramount's Mark Wahlberg actioner Shooter dropped 42% to $8.4M giving the sniper flick $27.6M after ten days. Sandra Bullock's suspense flick Premonition scared up $5.2M, down 46%, putting Sony's cume at $39.5M.

Three sophomores rounded out the top ten and lifted their mediocre cumes into the teens. Taking in $4.2M was the horror sequel The Hills Have Eyes 2 which fell 57% as well and has grossed $16.1M to date. Adam Sandler's latest money-losing stab at drama Reign Over Me collected $3.8M, down 49%, for a $13.5M total. The New Line sci-fi film The Last Mimzy crumbled 62% to $3.8M for a sum of $16M.

Miramax saw a weak bow for its heist thriller The Lookout which opened with an estimated $2M from 955 sites for a sluggish $2,113 average.

Universal experimented with a new form of marketing and distribution with the uplifting drama Peaceful Warrior which was given a limited theatrical release last summer by Lionsgate. With the new wide release in 615 theaters, free opening weekend tickets were given away by promotional partner Best Buy. By counting the free tickets by their full price at each location, the studio reported a theoritcal opening weekend gross of $2.1M which included roughly 250,000 complimentary admissions. Universal alloted a maximum of $15M worth of free tickets, but did not come close to seeing that much consumer interest.

The top ten films grossed $112.9M which was down 11% from last year when Ice Age: The Meltdown opened at number one with $68M; but up 20% from 2005 when Sin City debuted on top with $29.1M.


Compared to projections, Blades of Glory opened a few notches below my $37M forecast while Meet the Robinsons was on target with my $25M prediction.

Listen to the weekly podcast Projectionz featuring The Hollywood Reporter's Michael Rechtshaffen, Box Office magazine's Wade Major, and BoxOfficeGuru.com's Gitesh Pandya. A new episode is available each Friday for free download from the Apple iTunes Store.

For a review of Shooter and a DVD review of Blood Diamond, visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Grindhouse, The Reaping, and Are We Done Yet? all open.

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# Title Mar 30 - Apr 1 Mar 23 - 25 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Blades of Glory $ 33,014,202 3,372 1 $ 9,791 $ 33,014,202 Paramount
2 Meet the Robinsons 25,123,781 3,413 1 7,361 25,123,781 Buena Vista
3 300 11,434,437 19,862,491 -42.4 3,004 4 3,806 179,941,919 Warner Bros.
4 TMNT 9,232,362 24,255,205 -61.9 3,120 2 2,959 38,500,646 Warner Bros.
5 Wild Hogs 8,662,893 13,850,542 -37.5 3,200 5 2,707 135,628,796 Buena Vista
6 Shooter 8,364,413 14,523,571 -42.4 2,806 2 2,981 27,576,332 Paramount
7 Premonition 5,213,264 9,562,739 -45.5 2,474 3 2,107 39,455,581 Sony
8 The Hills Have Eyes 2 4,186,386 9,686,362 -56.8 2,465 2 1,698 16,069,995 Fox
9 Reign Over Me 3,835,022 7,460,690 -48.6 1,671 2 2,295 13,465,869 Sony
10 The Last Mimzy 3,815,600 10,024,819 -61.9 3,017 2 1,265 16,007,619 New Line
11 The Lookout 2,017,795 955 1 2,113 2,017,795 Miramax
12 The Namesake 1,545,971 1,306,819 18.3 237 4 6,523 4,609,030 Fox Searchlight
13 Pride 1,444,021 3,533,300 -59.1 1,518 2 951 5,739,338 Lionsgate
14 Dead Silence 1,329,510 3,440,415 -61.4 974 3 1,365 15,474,960 Universal
15 I Think I Love My Wife 872,579 2,769,349 -68.5 597 3 1,462 11,771,765 Fox Searchlight
16 Amazing Grace 849,050 1,476,109 -42.5 612 6 1,387 18,258,667 Goldwyn / Roadside
17 The Lives of Others 610,325 742,648 -17.8 259 8 2,356 6,557,434 Sony Classics
18 Night at the Museum 602,610 563,540 6.9 414 15 1,456 247,718,328 Fox
19 Bridge to Terabithia 595,734 2,323,868 -74.4 854 7 698 80,307,788 Buena Vista
20 Ghost Rider 538,245 1,678,864 -67.9 578 7 931 114,231,820 Sony
Top 5 $ 87,467,675 $ 82,516,628 6.0
Top 10 112,882,360 116,200,134 -2.9
Top 20 123,288,200 130,085,946 -5.2
Top 20 vs. 2006 123,288,200 137,456,329 -10.3

Last Updated : April 2, 2007 at 11:00PM ET

Watch Gitesh Pandya's weekly box office preview on CNN International airing live each Friday at 9:50am ET.