Rambo lost to a joke.
The spoof Meet the Spartans edged the return of Sylvester Stallone's aggrieved vet in the singularly named Rambo for the top spot at the weekend box office, per final studio figures compiled Monday by Exhibitor Relations.
Meet the Spartans grossed $18.5 million; Rambo, $18.2 million.
"I think people want to laugh, and we appeal to young people and they came out," Fox exec Bert Livingston said Sunday by way of explaining Meet the Spartans' win.
The comedy, goofing on 300, American Idol's Sanjaya and the last six months or so in pop-culture history, is the latest in a now-long line of like comedies. It opened smaller than Scary Movie, which goofed on horror movies, but bigger than Epic Movie, which goofed on just about everything.
Rambo, the first entry in the fully armed franchise since 1988, gave Stallone his biggest opening weekend since the days of Ivan Drago, the Soviet Union and Brigitte Nielsen's film career.
It goes down as the second-biggest opening ever for a Rambo film, which sounds impressive until you remember that three of the four Rambo movies opened when hair was much higher, and ticket prices were much lower. For the record, 1985's Rambo: First Blood Part II remains the series' standard-bearer, with a $20.2 million debut, and a $150.4 million overall take, per Box Office Mojo.
Elsewhere:
- Cloverfield, last weekend's champ, fell about as hard as King Kong from atop the Empire State Building, with business down 68 percent. Still, its fourth-place finish was good for another $12.7 million, and its overall take of $64.3 million is very good for a film that was produced for a reported $30 million.
- Katherine Heigl's 27 Dresses (third place, $13.4 million; $45.1 million) stayed strong.
- Queen Latifah's, Diane Keaton's and Katie Holmes' Mad Money (10th place, $4.6 million; $15.3 million overall) stayed disappointing.
- Juno (seventh place, $10.2 million), fresh off its four Oscar nominations, became the year's first Best Picture nominee to top $100 million. "It's a big thrill for us," said Fox Searchlight's Sheila DeLoach.
- There Will Be Blood (ninth place, $4.9 million; $14.7 million overall), fresh off its eight Oscar nominations, climbed four spaces to record its top 10 finish.
- No Country for Old Men ($2.4 million; $52 million overall), fresh off its eight Oscar nominations, finished out of the top 10, but recorded a 100 percent jump in business.
- Michael Clayton ($2.2 million; $41.2 million overall), fresh off its surprising seven Oscar nominations, returned to wide release, saw ticket sales zoom nearly 5000 percent, but still had trouble filling seats.
- Alvin and the Chipmunks ($4.5 million) fell out of the top 10 but moved past the $200 million mark.
- I Am Legend ($2.2 million, per Box Office Mojo) fell out of the top 10, but moved past the $250 million mark.
- The new Diane Lane thriller, Untraceable (fifth place, $11.4 million), had a bigger weekend, theater for theater, than Cloverfield and 27 Dresses.
- The new dance drama How She Move ($4 million) had a bigger weekend, theater for theater, than not much.
- The non-Oscar nominated 4 Months, 3 Weeks, 2 Days ($51,712 at two theaters) and the U2 concert film, U23D ($964,315 at 61 sites), were the big fishes in limited release.
Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Meet the Spartans, $18.5 million
2. Rambo, $18.2 million
3. 27 Dresses, $13.4 million
4. Cloverfield, $12.7 million
5. Untraceable, $11.4 million
6. The Bucket List, $10.5 million
7. Juno, $10.2 million
8. National Treasure: Book of Secrets, $4.92 million
9. There Will Be Blood, $4.87 million
10. Mad Money, $4.6 million
(Originally published Jan. 27, 2008 at 2:04 p.m. PT.)