« Nielsen Ratings: Friday February 2, 2007 | <__trans phrase="Main"> | Studio 60 and 30 Rock shelved again! »
So, thanks for indulging my horror-movie-loving rant, but enough about that. In second place this weekend was Because I Said So with $13 million and a $5k average. The Diane Keaton/Mandy Moore pic was well-placed counter-programming to the Superbowl, but worse reviews than The Messengers make me think Keaton deserves better. Epic Movie fell to third with $8 million, a 55% drop, making the total $29 million. Night at the Museum brought in another $6.7 million, falling just 29% In spite of losing 200 theatres. Total stands at $225 million, and the teaser for the sequel should be out any day now.
Smokin' Aces fell a steep 56% to $6 million(word of mouth on this one is baaaaaad), making the total a still-profitable $24 million. Stomp the Yard was sixth with $4.2 million, still showing decent legs and bringing in $56 million so far, making it the first real sleeper hit of the year, for better or worse. Dreamgirls continues to have a tough run of it, still adding theatres and pushing all those Oscar nods in the marketing, but bringing in just $4 million to land in seventh place. The real kicker is a per screen average of just $1.4k, though the $92 million total is still decent. Any thoughts on why this isn't doing more business?
Pan's Labyrinth had the best hold in the top ten, falling just 23% to $3.6 million and bringing its total to $21 million. The Pursuit of Happyness came in at number nine with $3 million and a $157 million total, which bodes well for Will Smiths upcoming films, especially I Am Legend and Tonight, He Comes (an interesting take on superhero movies from director Peter Berg). The Queen was in tenth with $2.7 million, and an impressive $45 million in the bank.
The rest of the Oscar nominees were clustered together outside the top ten, with The Departed hanging on at number twelve with $2.3 million, then Notes on a Scandal, Letters from Iwo Jima, and Babel each taking in about $1.7 million, followed by The Last King of Scotland and Children of Men with about $1.2 each. Is it me, or are the nominations just not pulling people in like they usually do?
So that's it for this week. Keep your eyes peeled for reviews of all the Best Picture nominees as the powers that be test my commitment to laziness, and tune in next week when MGM gives new meaning to the phrase 'beating a dead horse' by releasing Hannibal Rising and Eddie Murphy squanders all of his Dreamgirls goodwill by following it up with Norbit.