Grindhouse flops as Ferrell stays top
Grindhouse opened at fourth place with a shockingly low taking of $10 million, a huge disappointment for the Tarantino/Rodriguez project which was predicted by many experts to make at least four times that number. Was it because it was over 3 hours long? Were audiences not at all interested in Grindhouse cinema? Was it because audiences wanted to spend the Easter weekend with their families, and more friendlier films? It was probably a combination of all of those things, but it certainly can't be blamed on the advertising buzz and critics response to the flick. Nor can it be blamed on the amount of showing times, as it was played on the second highest number of screens for the weekend. What's true, is that this was the weakest opening for a movie that was heavily buzzed across the Internet since Snakes on a Plane, which both remarkably have an element of both comedy and horror. The market for this genre would seem to be small. The Will Ferrell/Jon Heder skating comedy Blades of Glory kept it's place at the top for the second week running, the flick has now amassed $68.4 million, around $16 million more than Meet the Robinsons which keeps it's place at second. The Ice Cube movie Are We Done Yet? remarkably was the highest debut movie taking in $15 million, for what was in part a sequel to Are We There Yet?. Horror movie The Reaping starring Academy Award winner Hilary Swank also has to be seen as somewhat of a disappointment.... taking in only $10 million. 6 April 2007 (Sunday Estimates)
Rank Title Weekend Gross 1. Blades of Glory (2007) $23M $68.4M 2. Meet the Robinsons (2007) $17M $52.2M 3. Are We Done Yet? (2007) $15M $19.1M 4. Grindhouse (2007) $11.6M $11.6M 5. The Reaping (2007) $10.1M $12M 6. 300 (2006) $8.82M $194M 7. Wild Hogs (2007) $6.84M $145M 8. Shooter (2007) $5.8M $36.7M 9. TMNT (2007) $4.93M $46.7M 10. Firehouse Dog (2007) $4M $5.26M OPENING NEXT WEEK: Perfect Stranger, Disturbia, Pathfinder, Aqua Teen Hunger Force Colon Movie Film for Theaters, Year of the Dog (limited), Lonely Hearts (limited), Redline (limited), Slow Burn (limited)