It looks like the film industry has embraced the President's Day weekend as another venue to launch big movies, and this year it was no different.
Leading the way this year is "Jumper" from Doug Liman, which was able to do a decent $27.2 million over the weekend. You can't help think it could have done much better with a different lead actor, as Hayden Christiansen hasn't been able to make a significant difference in the films he's been in since playing Darth Vader in the Star Wars prequels.
It's probably not so much his acting as his choice of films he's in, although working with Doug Liman who launched the Bourne franchise with "The Bourne Identity" and "Mr. and Mrs. Smith," which earned over $500 million internationally.
Still, a lot of actors and studios would be happy to have a film start off with $27.2. With critics blasting it, the question becomes whether it'll have any legs at all. The young male demographic it reaches out to doesn't care anything about what critics say, so it may not matter. If it doesn't hold at all next week, this one will disappear fast.
Bringing up the No. 2 spot this week is the "Step Up 2 the Streets, the sequel to the 2006 film "Step Up." The dance film finished with $19.7 million, while only being having a release at 2,470 venues.
The original film had some staying power, and if it holds true for this one, the increased budget of $35 million will be considered a pretty good investment. The first Step Up cost only $12 million to produce. Disney should do ok with this one.
The third place finish of "The Spiderwick Chronicles" makes one ask the question if people are tiring of this particular genre.
It seems everyone is trying to copy the hidden world aspect of the Narnia children's fantasy, and it's not working for them. The problem is Narnia has decades of fans behind it and a built-in audience that will watch it all the way through to the finish.
These other stories and projects can't compare with that; the reason they struggle to grab an audience. Parents know what they'll get with Narnia, they're not sure what they'll get with these other stories. The huge failure of the controversial Golden Compass could have also made them leery of Spiderwick. It seems families are waiting for Prince Caspian to come, rather than take a chance on a relative unknown.
What may help Spiderwick hold some - depending on what the word-of-mouth is - will be the lack of competition in this demographic until the middle of March when "Horton Hears a Who" comes out.
The surprising "Juno" continues to hold strongly, as it only dropped 17 percent from last weekend, and ended in 7th place with another $4.6 million for the weekend; it's eleventh time around. That brings its overall take to $124 million.
Top ten for the weekend:
| 1 | Jumper | $27,225,000 |
| 2 | Step Up 2 the Streets | $19,666,000 |
| 3 | The Spiderwick Chronicles | $19,080,000 |
| 4 | Fool's Gold | $13,080,000 |
| 5 | Definitely, Maybe | $9,685,000 |
| 6 | Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins | $8,880,000 |
| 7 | Juno | $4,625,000 |
| 8 | The Bucket List | $4,105,000 |
| 9 | Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour | $3,289,000 |
| 10 | 27 Dresses | $3,175,000 |
Other Box Office Sites:
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