In the wake of a tidal wave of either quirky or crappy new releases, America chose to stick with the familiar during their trips to the theater this weekend. Last week's top two films held their ground with Blades of Glory remaining on top of the heap and Meet The Robinsons clinging to second place. 300 which is still the top grossing film of the year to date ($195 million since its release five weeks ago), dropped from third place to sixth.
Low end family entertainment flick Are We Done Yet? claimed the best performance among the new releases, taking in $15 million and smartly beating out horror entries Grindhouse ($11.6 million) and The Reaping ($10.1 million). Firehouse dog was booted from the doghouse to the outhouse, only making $4 million and barely squeaking into the number ten spot.
Traditionally grindhouse films, for which Tarantino and Rodriguez' Grindhouse is both an homage and a spoof, were made on really low budgets. As big time filmmakers Tarantino and Rodriguez were given a cool $53 million to spend on their pet project, a sum which may prove difficult for the film to earn back. This is the sort of movie that has received a lot of attention lately and most folks planning to see it probably did so this weekend. Look for it to die fast, leaving it squarely in the red, an ending not entirely inappropriate since that's how most of its characters go out as well.
Next week is ridiculously full of new films as Hollywood continues its apparent attempt to release a record number of movies this year. Disturbia (yet another take on Hitchcock's Rear Window) and Perfect Stranger will make efforts to thrill audiences while Redline and Pathfinder: Legend of the Ghost Warrior try to get audiences excited with the promist of action and adventure. In smaller release crime thriller Slow Burn and the painfully useless Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters will do their best just to get into the top ten.
