Jon Heder, Scott Hamilton and Will Ferrell in DreamWorks Pictures' Blades of Glory
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Ferrell wins gold back to back!

Paramount & Dreamworks scores another victory in the box office race this weekend with stars Ferrell and Heder still racing circles around the competition in their gold plated skating gear. The comedy took the top spot of Easter weekend bringing in the families and people looking for laughs instead over anything else. Blades took in another 23.0 mil over the last 3 days on 3,410 screens bringing its domestic total at 68.3 mil. Blades of Glory’s production budget is listed at 61 mil so in its first two weekends of release.  

Disney’s family oriented animation Meet the Robinsons comes in 2^nd place this weekend, also scoring well with audiences and bringing in another 17 mil in its second weekend of release. The film rated G appeared on 3,435 screens across the globe and its total domestic take is now at 52.2 mil. It’s also brought in another 9.4 mil overseas making its total worldwide take at 61.6 mil. 

Landing behind the animation in 3^rd place is the Ice Cube family (seeing the trend now?) film Are We Done Yet. Sony Revolution’s family comedy opened up this weekend with a 15.0 mil over the last 3 days and 19 mil over the last 5. The sequel’s predecessor Are We There Yet opened up on 01/21/05 with an 18.5 mil debut and totaled 82.6 mil here at the states. It had a budget of 32 mil so the production studio Sony Revolution had no qualms about green lighting this Are We Done Yet? sequel. No production budget is listed but it’s probably around the same mark of finances as the first film and having a 19.0 mil bow this weekend is a great feeling for Cube and Co.  

Following behind in 4^th place is the Rodriguez/Tarantino double featured Grindhouse. Opening up in fourth place this weekend has caused a frenzy of news discussing how this film is a failure. I’ll go into that issue later down this column. For now, I’ll just list the facts of the situation at hand. The rated R film based on exploitation cinema of yesteryear took in 11.5 mil this weekend on 2,624 screens.  

The other much advertised biblical themed horror film The Reaping scares up 5^th place in its opening weekend in this week’s box office report. Hillary Swank’s film took in 12 mil over the last 5 days in 2,603 films. That’s going to finish up this and last weekend’s releases taking the top 5 spots. As a consequence, the films which were previously ruling the box office finished up in the 6-10 spots. 

Warner Bros highly regarded smash hit 300 conquered 6^th place this weekend, a drop of 3 places from last weekend’s 3^rd place finish. Zach Snyder’s film based on the mythical story of Sparta took in another 8.8 mil this weekend bringing its total domestic take to 193.8 mil. I remember saying the film would reach the 100 mil mark before it ends its theater release in late April. Well, that was of course wrong. The epic legendary tale based on Frank Millers graphic comic will hit the 200.0 domestic take by next weekend instead. 300 has made another 128.2 mil overseas bringing its worldwide totals to 322.0 mil overall in its 5 weeks of release.  

Disney’s Wild Hogs still has great legs riding into 7^th place in its 6 weeks of release. The comedy pulled in 6.8 mil more in receipts. Its total domestic take is now sitting at 145.4 mil and it’s taken in another 14.9 mil overseas thus far. Worldwide take is now at 160.4 mil and its production budget is not listed. It’s made its money back and more, Disney is talking about a sequel as of last week.  

Finishing up this weekend’s box office report in 8^th-10^th places is Shooter, TMNT, and Firehouse Dog. Wahlberg’s action film took in 5.8 mil in 2,353 screens dropping 2 places in the chart from last weekend. The action film’s total domestic take is now at 36.6 mil with a budget listed at 61 mil. The Turtles follows behind in 9^th place bringing in another 4.9 mil totaling its domestic bow to 46.7 mil. Warner Bros distributor has the budget for the animated turtle flick at 34 mil so it’s now ninja kicked its way beyond that mark. Coming up in last place is the Fox distributed Firehouse Dog with a 4.0 mil take in 3 days. The film opened up on 2,860 screens and averaged a very low $1,398 per screen take.  
 

Box Office Sound Off: 
 
 

I’ll come right out and say it. I’m shocked at all the news stories I saw yesterday on Grindhouse’s Friday numbers. There I was surfing the net and I come across news story after story when Friday’s box office numbers were released. Most, if not all, were titled “Weinsteins disappointed…” or “Grindhouse a failure…” or “Grindhouse bombs…” across the web.  

I have to ask this for any and all analysis high expectations out there. 

What exactly were you expecting? 

This is Easter weekend. This is a weekend where a majority of families get together and plan family activities coinciding with Church, Barbecues, Easter Egg Hunts & Family Time. Sure, a section of the population doesn’t celebrate this weekend or get together but the majority of the population does. The general masses will be having their kids in tow and today will be about them and about family as a whole.  

The last time I checked, Grindhouse isn’t a family movie. It’s a movie targeted towards a hardcore audience i.e. a smaller audience, a smaller demographic of people. Grindhouse is a very violent and sexual content driven movie that centers on exploitation of said violence and an era of movie cinema over 3 decades old. It’s probably an incredible well received film judging by all the reviews I’ve seen but quality of movie sometimes conflict with timing of movie release. The merits on whether the movie is good doesn’t quantify with the timing of release and the demographics available for the opening weekend. Good reviews mean nothing when it’s coming out on a weekend where the timing suggests a family movie would go better than a violent Rated-R film. 

Let’s not also forget that the movies out this week target family audiences. Nor leave out that the competition currently in our theaters against the Rodriguez/Tarantino film all have shorter running times and have ratings of PG and PG-13.  

Blades of Glory: 

• Genre: Sports Comedy
• Rating: PG-13
• Running Time: 1 Hour 33 Minutes
• Screens: 3,410

Meet the Robinsons: 

• Genre: Animation
• Rating: G
• Running Time: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
• Screens: 3,413

Are We Done Yet: 

• Genre: Family Comedy
• Rating: PG
• Running Time: 1 Hour 32 Minutes
• Screens: 2,877

Grindhouse: 

• Genre: Horror
• Rating: R
• Running Time: 2 Hours 45 Minutes
• Screens: 2,624

What exactly is shocking here? What were the expectations to go along with such shock value? Grindhouse, with previews and faux trailers, is over 3 hours long and rated R (close to not rating if you listened to MPAA struggle reports). You add into the mix that it’s only on 2,624 screens as compared to 3,400+ screens. You divide that by the running time comparisons for all the films and you equate the ratings, with demographics attached. It’s not surprising it ended up where it did this weekend. At most, Grindhouse would get maybe 6 showings a day at a particular theater across the nation and most of those movie houses probably showed it 5 times because they open later and close earlier in some cities.  

Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons opened up on at least 3,400 screens. With previews, they wrapped up in 2 hours flat each and probably had 6-8 showings per day per screen. You then key in the fact that this is primarily a family function weekend. 

What does it all say? 

It says Grindhouse had no shot whatsoever of taking first or second place. Absolutely no chance in fan-boy hell. It doesn’t matter if every critic in the world loved the double feature in such a way that would make Casanova blush. It doesn’t matter if audiences who saw the movie came out and said it was the greatest cinematic achievement in 2007. 

Grindhouse didn’t have a chance. 

Next weekend is Friday the 13^th. Perhaps, just perhaps, it had a chance then to take the top spot. Blades of Glory & Meet the Robinsons would be in their third weekend then and ready to start a box office fall. However, even that is hard to imagine if you equate each movie’s targeted demographic audience against each other. More so if you figure in the running time and the amount of screens each movie had. Even next weekend with a good date for a horror film, it’s hard to match up with that kind of competition. 

As I say, I was shocked to read so many stories yesterday on Grindhouse performing in the manner that it did. There’s nothing surprising about what happened with Weinstein’s latest release with respect to when it was released and against its competition.  

I’m interested in hearing your own thoughts on the situation, reader. Let us know what you were expecting this weekend. Do you think it would have been better coming out on Friday the 13^th as opposed to Easter weekend and this kind of competition? Would it have won next weekend? Now, it’s your turn to sound off. Give your opinion on the matter. 
 

Maniac Feedback from Last Week: 

Snallygaster: “Will the April box office do better than March? I may be wrong, but I"m going with a resounding NO.  
 
I checked out the upcoming movies for April and for the most part it's pretty lame, in other words a typical April line-up. Lots of thrillers, lots of second-rate horror flicks, a couple of family movies (neither one of which is animated). The only potential 300-like wildcard is Grindhouse, but I'm not so sure that it will pull the same sort of suprise box office as 300. I could be wrong of course (as I was with 300) but I think the potential audience are those who "get" the "grindhouse" concept, as well as those wanting to see Rose's deadly leg. The former audience is probably pretty small, the latter audience is the real wildcard. However, as a total month, I think April will do worse than March thanks to two other dampening factors: The first weekend is Easter weekend (traditionally not a strong movie-going weekend as opposed to Thanksgiving/Christmas/New Years) and the second weekend is when the procrastinators will be finishing their income taxes. Overall, I think April will be the calm before the storm. Spidey 3 hits theaters the first weekend in May, launching a very busy Summer movie season.” 

Merin: “Also not a Will Farrell fan at all. Sometimes I've snickered at bit parts he played (Marshall Willenholly in J&BSB) but mostly I just find the humor he's part of blech. I find most of SNL humor blech, though, so its no surprise. 
 
April will not match March. Grindhouse is not gonna do huge bank, though I'm very excited (and I'm not a QT fan.) Its a concept that isn't going to appeal to many people, but I bet it does decent box at least. 
 
Hot Fuzz is one of the movies I'm most looking forward to this summer. Spaced and Shaun of the Dead are favorites. Simon Pegg is hilarious. 
 
There isn't anything in April that is even whispering possible sleeper hit. 
 
Vacancy looks interesting, but it'll probably do between HHE2 and Premonition numbers - not sure many are ready to see Luke Wilson in a horror thriller. 
 
April will just be a deep breath before the real shouting begins, however. Come May this summer is going to explode!” 

Wiggley: “I'll chime in here. I guess I'm the minority. I like Will Farrel movies, although I have never seen one at the box office. Anchorman has become one of my all time favorite comedies, but it took me two viewings to really get it. The guy comes from so far out there that you usuall miss half of it trying to figure out what the hell the movie is about. the trick is.. it doesn't matter. For me at least his humor is all in the little details. 
 
Agreed on HotFuzz. looking foward to it. Simply because of Shaun of the Dead. 
 
I'm a huge Terantino fan, but for some unknown reason Grindhouse has me nervous. I'll see it for sure, but it could be too over the top for me. (that's it, I'm officially getting old )” 

Jppintar326: “I am also not a Tarantino fan mainly because he insists on casting himself in his movies. He can't act and he is just plain annoying. There are reasons why many directors are not actors. Clint Eastwood is the exception, not the rule. Even his bit part in Desperado had me rollling my eyes.” 

Ponyboy76: “Well, I don't really see any correlation between Tarantino's skills as a director and the fact that he likes to be in some of his movies. I mean its not like he puts himself in as a main character, except for in Resoivor Dogs and that is a more ensemble cast anyway, which most of his movies are. Anyway, based on his skills as a director and his personality, I really like QT. He comes off as a bit of a what I see as the equivalent of a computer genius who thinks his shit doesn't stink and is cool, but we all know he is still a geek. Besides that he hasn't directed or written one bad movie and I can't wait to see Grindhouse.  
 
Hot Fuzz was funny as Hell. Simon Pegg is hilarious in it and there are quite a few cameos of some great English comedians that U.S. audiences have seen before. The surprise for me was Timothy Dalton. He is too funny. 
 
As far as Will Ferrel goes, I think he definitely has his moments. He isn't always funny, but Anchorman, Wedding Crashers, Ricky Bobby and Old School was freakin hilarious. Frank the Tank Rules!!” 

Wessmith1966: “I finally saw Premonition, and enjoyed it, although it was a bit of a bummer at the end. I like that it didn't turn out like I thought it would. 
 
Blades of Glory didn't even look a bit funny to me, so I stayed away from that one. I don't find Heder funny at all, and Ferrell was funny in 5 minute skits on SNL. I've had the misfortune of having to sit through a few of his films and I find them absolutely horrible. 
 
Can't wait to see Grindhouse this weekend and I think The Reaping will be pretty good too, if for no other reason because The Next Karate Kid is in it. I love Tarantino movies, and I think it's cool that he likes to be in them. He's living his dream and making fantastic movies in the process; kudos to him. We should all have so much fun doing our jobs!” 

Jabberwookie: “I am not a big Will Ferrell fan. I like his humor when he doesn't get to 'way out there'. Interestingly enough, I'd be more likely to want to see Blades of Glory because of 'Stranger than Fiction'. For me, that movie suggested that Will Ferrell might have a future as an actor, not just with slap stick comedy. I remember watching Tom Hanks in Forrest Gump and being blown away because all I could see was the guy who had been in Bosom Buddies, even with Tom's pervious work in 'Big.' I'm really hoping that Will also has this kind of talent and career savvy. 
 
On the topic of April over march, I also agree with a number of previous posters -- March is going to trump April. The three big factors are the positioning of spring break and taxes, the movies coming out, and (personal feeling on this) the weather. I think that having better weather earlier on in some regions promotes more movie watching. 
 
"Is it paranoia if they REALLY ARE out to get you?" 
 
 

April 13, 2007: 

Wide Releases

• Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie For Theaters (800 screens)
• Disturbia (2,500 screens)
• Perfect Stranger (2,500 screens)
• Redline (2,000 screens)
• Pathfinder: Legend of the Ghost Warrior (1,700 screens)
• Slowburn (1,100 screens)

Limited Releases

• Everything’s Gone Green
• The Glamorous Life of Sanchiko Hanoi
• Lonely Hearts
• Private Fears in Public Places
• Year of the Dog

That’s going to do it for this weekend’s edition of the Mania Box Office Report. Talk to you later, Maniacs!