Spring Box Office Could Use Some Summer

Mon., Apr. 23, 2007 1:32 PM PDT by Joal Ryan

Spider-Man will swing by soon enough, and then Shrek and Jack Sparrow. But until then...

Just two weeks from the start of summer blockbuster season, spring box-office business was all wet.

Disturbia ($13 million; $40.2 million overall) maintained its top spot for a second week thanks to less than sizzling debuts from the Anthony Hopkins-Ryan Gosling thriller, Fracture (second place, $11 million), and the Luke Wilson-Kate Beckinsale horror effort, Vacancy (fourth place, $7.6 million), according to final studio figures compiled Exhibitor Relations.

Overall, the top 12 movies combined to gross $73 million, or about $40 million less than what a single Spider-Man flick can snare in a debut weekend. Even when compared to the usual spring blahs, this weekend was especially dismal, down 27 percent from the same weekend last year.

Hot Fuzz, the new action-cop comedy from the makers of Shaun of the Dead, was a rare bright spot, bowing with $5.8 million (sixth place) on just 825 screens. It was the only movie to crack the Top 10 without the benefit or strength of at least 2,000 theaters.

The other major new release, In the Land of Women, the debut comedy-drama from writer-director Jon Kasdan (son of Lawrence), got the requisite 2,000 screens (2,155, to be precise), but only pulled in $4.7 million (eighth place) from them.

Elsewhere, Wild Hogs ($2.8 million; $156.2 million overall), the second-biggest hit of spring, hung in for a 10th place finish, while 300 ($2.3 million), the biggest hit of spring—and all of 2007, fell to 11th, but padded its cumulative take to $204.6 million.

Perfect Stranger (ninth place, $4.1 million; $18.1 million overall), the poorly reviewed Halle Berry-Bruce Willis thriller, prepared for its DVD release, while Meet the Robinsons (fifth place, $7 million; $82.1 million overall), the poorly reviewed Disney release, continued to prove animation just can't lose.

Grindhouse was a goner with $1.4 million on nearly 1,500 screens—and a bust with a three-week take of just $22.7 million.

On the art-house circuit, the French movie The Valet was as hot a summer flick, grossing $67,552 on only six screens.

The real summer flicks arrive starting May 4, with Spider-Man 3. Shrek the Third joins the party May 18, followed by Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End on May 25.

Here's a rundown of the top 10 films based on Friday-Sunday figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Disturbia, $13 million
2. Fracture, $11 million
3. Blades of Glory, $7.7 million
4. Vacancy, $7.6 million
5. Meet the Robinsons, $7 million
6. Hot Fuzz, $5.8 million
7. Are We Done Yet?, $5.2 million
8. In the Land of Women, $4.7 million
9. Perfect Stranger, $4.1 million
10. Wild Hogs, $2.8 million