Top 10 for March 30-April 1, 2007 Summary: Final numbers are in.
With their eyes clearly set on gold, Will Ferrell and Jon Heder's ice skating comedy Blades of Glory easily led all films to the podium this weekend, earning an estimated $33 million. Budgeted at $61 million, the Paramount/DreamWorks release averaged a scintillating $9,786 in 3,372 theaters, becoming the second biggest debut ever for Ferrell and by far the biggest for co-star Heder (Napoleon Dynamite). Only Ferrell's Talladega Nights scored higher, debuting with $47 million last August on its way to $148 million domestically.
Disney Feature Animation's second foray into computer animation finished a disappointing second, opening significantly less than the studio's 2005 release Chicken Little ($40 million opening). Despite enjoying much stronger reviews than Little, Robinsons opened with an estimated $25 million, averaging a solid $7,341 in a wide 3,413 theaters. Though the opening was on par with Buena Vista's conservative projections, it was much lower than other March animation releases. Fox/Blue Sky Studios' Ice Age 2 debuted with a then-record $68 million last March, while the studio's 2005 release Robots opened with $36 million. Unless word of mouth stay significantly strong and shows minimal decline over Easter weekend, look for Robinsons to fall well short of $100 million domestically.
Among holdovers, Warner's 300 and Buena Vista's Wild Hogs continued to outpace the competition, falling 44% and 39% respectively. Warner's blockbuster 300 took in $11.1 million in third, pushing its four week cume to an incredible $179.6 million. Budgeted at just $65 million, the film should find a way to break $200 million domestically. Disney's Wild Hogs has been the strongest holdover the past few weeks, falling another top ten best 39% to an estimated $8.3 million. In five weeks, the road trip comedy has grossed $135.3 million.
Last week's champ Teenage Mutant Ninja Turles fell a sickly 62% in its sophomore frame, earning an estimated $9.1 million in fourth. In ten days, the computer-animated release has grossed $38.4 million, and will be lucky to hit $50 million domestically.
Mark Walhberg's Shooter held well in sixth, falling 45% to an estimated $8 million. Budgeted at $61 million, the Paramount release has brought in $27.2 million in ten days.
Miramax's well-reviewed The Lookout debuted in eleventh place, grossing an estimated $2 million in 955 theaters for a weak $2,101 average.
After four consecutive weekends topping last year's comparable frames, the marketplace finally took a breather, falling 11% from last year when Ice Age: The Meltdown broke March records with its $68 million debut.
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