Semi-Pro Shoots, Doesn't Quite Score

Sun., Mar. 2, 2008 1:32 PM PST by Joal Ryan

Will Ferrell's afro turned out to be more impressive than Semi-Pro's box office.

The 1970s-spoofing basketball comedy led a weak weekend field with $15.1 million, per estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations, the worst opening for Ferrell since Elf made him big.

Debuting in fourth place, The Other Boleyn Girl, a costume drama about a million miles, and a few centuries, removed from Semi-Pro's shorty-shorts world, was actually the Top 10's biggest hit.

Playing on fewer than half as many screens as Semi-Pro, the Natalie Portman-Scarlett Johansson effort grossed a solid $8.3 million.

The unconventional romantic-comedy Penelope, the other major new release, didn't blossom: It opened in eighth, with $4.006 million.

As far as the expectations game, Ferrell might have shot the biggest air ball of all the weekend's top competitors.

From 2003 through last year, the Saturday Night Live alum starred in six wide-release comedies. Each and every one, even a perceived bust such as Bewitched, opened with at least $20 million. His biggest hit, Talledega Nights, debuted with $47 million.

Then came Semi-Pro's $15.3 million.

That afro really was something, though.

Elsewhere:

•   No Country for Old Men's success might not have been so great for Oscars' ratings, but the Oscars were pretty great for the movie's box office. One weekend after its Best Picture win, business zoomed 67 percent (ninth place, $4.005 million; $69.6 million overall).
•   Last weekend's champ, Vantage Point ($12.8 million; $41 million overall), fell to second, but didn't fall completely apart.
•   The family-fantasy film The Spiderwick Chronicles (third place, $8.7 million; $55.1 million overall) isn't blowing anybody away, but it's hanging in there.
•   Top 10 dropouts included: the romantic-comedy nonstarter Definitely, Maybe ($3.3 million; $26.2 million overall); the Best Picture loser There Will Be Blood ($1.6 million; $37.6 million overall, per Box Office Mojo); the middling Martin Lawrence performer, Welcome Home, Roscoe Jenkins ($2.7 million; $39.2 million overall); and, the Jack Black bust, Be Kind Rewind ($2.1 million; $7.1 million overall).
•   In limited release, Oscar's Foreign Language Film winner, The Counterfeiters ($202,000 at 18 theaters), enjoyed the weekend's best per-screen average, per Box Office Mojo. The French film The Duchess of Langeais ($21,500 at three theaters) was no slouch, either.
•   Chicago 10, the new, partly animated documentary about the 1968 Democratic Convention riots, didn't catch fire, pulling in an okay $44,800 from 14 theaters, Box Office Mojo estimated.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Semi-Pro, $15.3 million
2. Vantage Point, $12.8 million
3. The Spiderwick Chronicles, $8.7 million
4. The Other Boleyn Girl, $8.2 million
5. Jumper, $7.5 million
6. Step Up 2: The Streets, $5.7 million
7. Fool's Gold, $4.4 million