Box Office: April 16th - 18th

Hello and welcome to the Box office report where once again we will be highlighting the biggest money-makers from over the past weekend. Just like last week there was a photo finish to the top spot with just $250,000 separating the first two places. So let's head straight into this week's top 5 countdown: 5.) CLASH OF THE TITANS

THE STATS: US WEEKEND GROSS: $15,770,000, US TOTAL GROSS: $132,985,000 WEEKS ON RELEASE: 3 DROP OFF PERCENTAGE: -40.8% BUDGET: $125 Million

Whilst Clash has had a decent run at the box office overall, a little disappointing for Warner Bros will be the titanic drop off in gross after its fine $61 million opening. Last week's $26 million barely maintained its place at the top of the charts and now this weekend it has fallen from first to fifth with another forty percent drop. It's $133 million total gross has now reached past its hefty $125 million budget but the film still looks very unlikely to soar past the $200 million barrier making it more of a minor hit than a box office smash. 4.) DEATH AT A FUNERAL

THE STATS: (NEW ENTRY)US WEEKEND GROSS: $17,000,ooo, US TOTAL GROSS: $17,000,000 BUDGET: $21 Million

Neil Labute's latest release fared pretty well in its opening weekend despite an edgy premise that I thought would turn people off rather than entice them to the screens. In terms of average gross per theatre, the film was actually the most profitable of all current releases, averaging $6,913 dollars but when you have the majority of the higher releases playing on over a thousand cinemas more, it meant that Death at a Funeral was unlikely to scale any higher up the charts and it made a good impact considering. 3.) DATE NIGHT

THE STATS:US WEEKEND GROSS: $17,300,000, US TOTAL GROSS: $49,296,000, WEEKS ON RELEASE: 2 PERCENTAGE DROP: -31.9% BUDGET: $55 Million

This sitcom star led vehicle continues its solid drive near the top of the charts with an impressive -31.4% drop off from last weekend's opening. The comedy has held on pretty well which is perhaps testament to the clear drawing power of leads Steve Carrell (The Office USA) and Tina Fey (30 Rock). I bet the actors from Friends wished they had experienced a similar crossover appeal (unless of course you believe that Courteney Cox is the reason why people went to watch the 'Scream' movies.) 2.) KICK ASS

THE STATS: (NEW ENTRY)US WEEKEND GROSS: $19,750,000, US TOTAL GROSS: $19,750,000 BUDGET: $30 million

Although Box Office Mojo are reporting that the opening numbers for 'Kick Ass' have been somewhat of a let down, describing that the film failed to "bust out of its unpopular superhero comedy confines nor did it match its hype", I myself am not that surprised as the film was only a few million dollars short from my own predicted estimation. It has after all a very indie vibe and as such is unlikely to ever open with a smash weekend. I do however believe that the film will have immense staying power in a similar fashion to 'My Big Fat Greek Wedding'; and as a cult smash I can anticipate the film gaining from a mass of repeat viewings and taking small chunks for a long period of time. I will in fact put my neck on the line and make a very bold prediction that Kick Ass will end up taking more money than the more obviously profitable 'Clash of the Titans'despite taking less than a third of that film's opening weekend. 1.) HOW TO TRAIN YOUR DRAGON

THE STATS:US WEEKEND GROSS: $20,000,000 US TOTAL GROSS: $158,618,000 WEEKS ON RELEASE: 4 PERCENTAGE DROP: 19.6% BUDGET: $165 million

Owing to its 165 million budget, the studios behind this latest lavish animation must have been quite concerned with the film's underwhelming $43 million opening but since then it has boasted immense staying power with recent weeks of 29, 24 and now a 20 million haul which has sent the film back to the top of the charts, helped mostly by the fact that children have little other alternatives on offer amongst the current crop of releases. Domesticaly the film has still yet to match its budget but if it can maintain this kind of staying power it may prove to be a resounding success after all. In terms of this week's race to the top spot, 'How to Train your Dragon' edged out 'Kick Ass'by a minuscule $250,00o sum with an even closer race than last week's top spot battle between 'Clash of the Titans'and 'Date Night' which were separated by just over a million dollars. On Friday How to Train your Dragon showed no signs of reclaiming the top spot as its $4 million daily takings left it hanging in 4th place heading into the weekend. On Saturday however the film caught on fire as it were as it almost doubled its weekend earnings with a 9 million daily box office that left it just short of leading movie 'Kick Ass.' On Sunday it's 6.4 million gross was enough to clinch the weekend top spot. Onto the week's new US releases:

Next week we have the release of the Jennifer Lopez vehicle 'The Back-up Plan.' The film's tagline which reads "Fall in love. Get married. Have a baby. But not necessarily in that order...." is perhaps all you need to know about this likely monstrosety. Lopez may be a far greater draw than a similar rom-com star such as Jennifer Aniston (who has her own artificial insemination rom-com upcoming late summer)but she's hardly Box Office dynamite either and so I predict that this familiar, light hearted and in some cases comforting rom-com will open with a $26.5 million weekend to claim the top spot and then begun to fall down quite heavily shortly afterwards. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8FZuNElrx7A The other new release this coming week is the action film 'The Losers', a comic book adaptation starring Zoe Saldana, Idris Elba and Chris Evans. The film is focused around the members of a CIA black ops team who after being betrayed and left for dead attempt to target the poeple who tried to assasinate them. The trailer seems to feature enough bite and bling (careful to get in all those explosive, expensive moments) to warrant a reasonable 20 million opening. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ypdB65jNpu0 Now let's briefly turn to some box office news from the movies which are starting to finish their run in the charts. In somewhat amazing fashion, the Christmas mega smash'Avatar' is still making small doses of dosh after a whopping eighteen weeks in the chart. It has now taken over $745,000,000, domestically making it technically the highest grossing US release of all time but on the adjusted scale it remains and will most likely finish in fourteenth place just behind 'Ben Hur', 'The Empire Strikes Back'and '101 Dalmations.' For the DVD and BLU Ray release of the film which comes out on Earth Day (April 22nd) James Cameron is keeping in with the environmentalist theme of the film by releasing Avatar in its purest, most organic form with no pre-trailers or extra features but just the movie itself. Am I the only person who finds it slightly ironic that in this apparent bold move for the environment, people are going to be paying a fortune for the same experience they received at the cinema; having to wait until November before any extra features become available. Earth Day morals Cameron or just another opportunity to create some buzz that will lead to more money... hmm. As a director, Roman Polanski may never have been the most prolific box office draw. Even the Johnny Depp led picture 'The Ninth Gate'failed to reach the $20 million mark although to be fair this was in the days when Depp was more of an actor than a star. Anyway, I digress, Polanski's latest release 'The Ghost Writer'has been somewhat of a flop at the Box Office raking in a measly $12 million dollars though to its credits the film has been showing on a very minimal amount of screens. The film's location appears to have been shot in the states but it was actually filmed on the North Sea Island of Syl due to Polanski's US arrest warrant. Despite this setback, Martha's vineyard where the film is supposed to be located appears authentically on screen. Critically the film has been warmly received with an 84% score on Rotten Tomatoes making it Polanski's 4th highest score on the website behind his other pictures 'The Tenant', 'The Pianist' and the 100% score for 'Chinatown'which features literally no negative reviews. And in all honesty how could there be?