New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

As strange as it seems, 27 Dresses managed to get ahead of Cloverfield despite a $17 million difference between openings last weekend. 27 Dresses earned $13.6 million, off 41% compared to last weekend. Out to 3,074 venues, the Katherine Heigl starrer had a venue average of $4,424. All of a sudden the comedy is looking like it could be at least a $75 million earner, with $85 million not out of the question. Remember, J-Lo's The Wedding Planner opened to $13.5 million and went on to make $60 million domestically, giving it an open-to-finish multiplier of 4.44. If Dresses manages the same multiplier, it finishes just north of $100 million (however, a larger opener usually comes with a smaller multiplier). So far, 27 Dresses has earned $45.3 million, and Katherine Heigl will be getting work for a long time to come.

So, after finishing last weekend as the biggest January opener of all time ($40.1 million opening), Cloverfield got absolutely hammered this weekend. J.J. Abrams' ‘monster movie via camcorder' earned only $12.7 million in its second frame, giving this one a monstrous drop of 68%. We knew Cloverfield was going to be front-loaded, but no one saw this coming. With pop culture flicks like Meet the Spartans and Rambo opening, dollars were drawn away from the creature feature. As we discussed last weekend, what happens after the opening means little to Paramount. Cloverfield has a production budget of only $25 million, a figure it easily earned in its first two days of release. So far, Cloverfield has earned $64.3 million, and should finish with about $85 million.

Finishing fifth is a film I thought would do better - Screen Gems' Untraceable. The Diane Lane vehicle grossed $11.2 million from 2,368 venues, as this film that needed reviews failed to get them. At RottenTomatoes, only 12 reviewers out of a possible 84 liked this one enough to give it a thumbs up (one was Roger Ebert) leaving Untraceable with a rotten rating of 14%. Despite the critical drubbing, Diane Lane continues to pick films that open decently. Recent choices like Must Love Dogs, Unfaithful and Under the Tuscan Sun have opened between $9 and $14 million, and all finished in the $40 to $50 million range. With the negative reviews, we will have to wait and see if Lane can get Untraceable into the same range as some of her other films.

Juno finishes a strong sixth, as the little film that could continues to surprise. Juno earned $10.3 million from 2,426 venues (a drop of 108 venues from last weekend), and gains 3% of its audience from last weekend. With Oscar nominations now out, Juno continues to propel itself forward. Currently, Juno has racked up $100.2 million, a feat no one probably saw coming a couple of months ago.

Dropping to seventh is The Bucket List, a film that has turned into a little hit for Warner Bros. In its third weekend of wide release, the Jack Nicholson/Morgan Freeman starrer earned $10.27 million, and was off 27% compared to last weekend. After critics drubbed this one out of any awards race, audiences have supported it to the tune of $57.7 million so far.

There Will Be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson's oil flick, expanded nicely, moving to 885 venues this weekend, an expansion of 496 theatres. With Oscar nominations in tow, There Will Be Blood grossed $4.9 million and garnered a venue average of $5,522. It increased its take over last weekend by 66%. While this one is never going to be huge, a gross so far of $14.8 million isn't bad. An Oscar win for Picture or Daniel Day Lewis is going to make this one a $50 million picture.

National Treasure: Book of Secrets slides to ninth as the Nic Cage starrer is running out of steam. Book of Secrets earned $4.7 million and was off 38%. Its total now has reached $205.4 million.

Tenth goes to Mad Money, the comedy starring Queen Latifah, Diane Keaton and Katie Holmes. After getting off to a sluggish start last weekend with $7.7 million, Mad Money drops 40% this weekend and earns $4.6 million. Mad Money has now earned $15.3 million against a production budget of about $22 million.

Our final new release, How She Move, finished outside of the top ten this weekend. The film about step dancing earned $4.2 million this weekend from 1,531 venues.

Overall, things are looking up at the box office, but down in terms of overall film quality. The top twelve this weekend earned $117.8 million, a solid total for a holiday-free January weekend. Last year, with Epic Movie on top, the top twelve earned a not so solid $89.2 million. Next weekend looks sloppy again with another Jessica Alba horror film in The Eye, Strange Wilderness with Steve Zahn and Justin Long, and Over Her Dead Body, a comedy from New Line. As odd as it sounds, my money might be on 27 Dresses to win.

Top Weekend Box Office for 1/25/08-1/27/08 (Actuals)
Rank	Film	Distributor	Estimated Gross	Actual Gross	Weekly Change	Running Total
1	Meet the Spartans	20th Century Fox	$18,725,000	$18,505,530	New	$18,505,530
2	Rambo	Lionsgate	$18,150,000	$18,203,876	New	$18,203,876
3	27 Dresses	20th Century Fox	$13,600,000	$13,360,535	- 41.9%	$45,107,889
4	Cloverfield	Paramount Pictures	$12,700,000	$12,712,134	- 68.3%	$64,306,110
5	Untraceable	Sony/Screen Gems	$11,200,000	$11,354,069	New	$11,354,069
6	The Bucket List	Warner Bros.	$10,275,000	$10,532,406	- 25.2%	$58,006,449
7	Juno	Fox Searchlight	$10,300,000	$10,151,100	+ 2.0%	$100,003,577
8	National Treasure: Book of Secrets	Walt Disney Pictures	$4,664,000	$4,916,131	- 34.9%	$205,672,738
9	There Will Be Blood	Paramount Vantage	$4,887,043	$4,869,383	+ 65.5%	$14,746,644
10	Mad Money	Overture Films	$4,610,000	$4,578,394	- 40.8%	$15,252,568
11	Alvin and the Chipmunks	20th Century Fox	$4,550,000	$4,512,318	- 35.1%	$204,121,451
12	How She Move	Paramount Vantage	$4,158,327	$3,957,471	New	$3,957,471
	Also Opening/Notables
	U23D	National Geographic	N/A	$964,315	New	$1,181,065
	4 Months, 3 Weeks, And 2 Days	IFC Films	N/A	$51,712	New	$51,712
	Shoot Down	Magic Lamp Releasing	N/A	$51,408	New	$51,408
	The Air I Breathe	THINKFilm	N/A	$19,487	New	$19,487
	Alice's House	Vitagraph/figa Films	N/A	$19,083	New	$19,083
	No Country for Old Men	Paramount	$2,503,000	$2,423,409	+ 99.6%	$51,956,842
	Michael Clayton	Warner Bros.	$2,100,000	$2,225,260	+4874.%	$41,653,439
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

Continued:       1       2