I remember back when we really started doing this thing back in March of last year. There wasn't much to report at the box office at the time, and I remember thinking it was the end of the world when Wild Hogs was aggressively going up against Ghost Rider for box office supremacy.
Well folks, it always gets worse.
I don't really consider myself a movie snob, mostly because I like cheesy, awful movies about as much as I like "good" ones, but on a weekend where I was watching Chinatown for the first time, for free, a collective $36.8 million was spent by movie-goers nationwide to see Meet the Spartans and Rambo. I mean...hasn't anyone heard of Netflix?
In other news, Juno grossed $10.3 million to put it at the $100 million mark, while the Paul Thomas Anderson drama There Will Be Blood brought in just $4.89 M (for a $14.8 M total thus far). For anyone keeping track, through 1/13 the grosses of the other three Oscar nominees for best film are: No Country for Old Men at $46.7 M; Michael Clayton at $39.3 M; Atonement at $25 M. I guess these figures shouldn't surprise me, but it does go to show you (I'm looking at you There Will Be Blood) that it, literally, pays to get in the theaters earlier on in the Oscar season.
The top ten, by the by, looks like this:
Meet the Spartans - $18.7 M
Rambo - $18.1 M
27 Dresses - $13.6 M
Cloverfield - $12.7 M
Untraceable - $11.2 M
Juno - $10.3 M
The Bucket List - $10.3 M
There Will Be Blood - $4.89 M
National Treasure: Book of Secrets - $4.66 M
Mad Money - $4.61 M
Write on...
