Horton heard a lot of who-rahs this weekend, not only from audiences but from producers and studio execs as well. In its second weekend, and in just ten days, the film cleared the $85 million mark, bringing it above its budget leaving plenty of time for the profits to roll in. No records were broken for Easter weekend openings, but Horton did become the first movie of 2008 to win two weekends in a row.
It also means the movie will easily outperform another recent Seuss adaptation, The Cat In The Hat. That movie peetered out at $100 million and only recovered its budget thanks to international receipts. Unfortunatly, it has a long way to go and little hope of ever catching the ridiculous live-action version of How The Grinch Stole Christmas. It's a shame. Horton is a better movie by far and deserves to sit on top of the heap, both in the eyes of audiences and at the box office.
The three major new releases all had to settle for second fiddle to the faithful elephant. Tyler Perry's Meet The Browns came in second place with just over $20 million. That's probably more than the movie deserved, but given Perry's loyal fan base it's no more that I expected.
Drillbit Taylor producer/writer team Judd Apatow and Seth Rogen also have something of a following, but their supporters turned out to be half as loyal. I actually expected them to be on top of the three-movie heap, but with $10.2 million it played last fiddle to awful horror flick Shutter, which came in third place with half a million more. For the complete top ten list, check out the chart below.
The big surprise this weekend came from La Luna Misma, or Under the Same Moon to American audiences. In just over 250 theaters it cleared nearly $10,000 per screen, coming in tenth place with $2.6 million. That's a good sign that the movie will hopefully enjoy a wider release. It's rare that a movie in a foreign language gets this level of attention in the US and, despite the movie's overt touting of the plight of the Mexican immigrant, it's a sweet story that deserves every success.
Easter Weekend, 2008
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! | $25,100,000 - Total: $86,470,000 | LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 3961 |
| 2. | Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns * | $20,010,000 - Total: $20,010,000 | LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2006 |
| 3. | Shutter * | $10,700,000 - Total: $10,700,000 | LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2753 |
| 4. | Drillbit Taylor * | $10,200,000 - Total: $10,200,000 | LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 3056 |
| 5. | 10,000 B.C. | $8,660,000 - Total: $76,100,000 | LW: 2 WR: 3 THTRS: 3454 |
| 6. | Never Back Down | $4,861,000 - Total: $16,824,000 | LW: 3 WR: 2 THTRS: 2729 |
| 7. | College Road Trip | $4,630,000 - Total: $32,005,000 | LW: 4 WR: 3 THTRS: 2575 |
| 8. | The Bank Job | $4,100,000 - Total: $19,430,000 | LW: 6 WR: 3 THTRS: 1613 |
| 9. | Vantage Point | $3,800,000 - Total: $65,300,000 | LW: 5 WR: 5 THTRS: 2124 |
| 10. | Under the Same Moon * | $2,602,000 - Total: $3,329,000 | LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 266 |
