U.S Box Office Report - 1st - 3rd February 2008

1. Hannah Montana: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour - $29M - $29M
2. The Eye - $13M - $13M
3. 27 Dresses - $8.4M - $57M
4. Juno - $7.4M - $110M
5. Meet the Spartans - $7.1M - $28.3M
6. Rambo - $7M - $29.8M
7. The Bucket List - $6.8M - $67.6M
8. Untraceable - $5.4M - $19.4M
9. Cloverfield - $4.9M - $71M
10. There Will Be Blood - $4.7M - $21.1M

With it being Superbowl weekend, the studios have thrown out a pretty mixed bag to try and rope in anyone who's not watching the game. Hannah Montana is a very popular kid's TV show, featuring Miley Cyrus as Hannah Montana. The Best of Both Worlds concert tour has been a sellout where ever its played and this concert movie, in 3D, opened in just 683 locations (the amount of screens capable of displaying the film correctly).


It was originally set to open this weekend and close next weekend before heading straight onto DVD. With an opening figure of $29M, it seems everyone underestimated the appeal. Already the film has had its run extended and has caused a delay in expanding the U2-3D movie which was due to go wide into the same locations in a just a couple weeks. The concert film was made for just $7M and with appeal already built in from the TV show, its print and advertising costs would have been fairly limited. The higher ticket prices at digital cinemas have helped reach that huge total, and it sits at the top spot with a location average of $42,000.

The Eye is the latest in a long line of horror remakes, this one based on the 2002 film Gin gwai. Starring Jessica Alba as blind woman who's sight is restored with terrible consequences, the film opened at about the same level as last year's The Messengers (which was directed by The Pang Brothers, who were responsible for Gin gwai) which went on to take $35M before the end of its run. The Eye might be lucky to make that but will have been pretty heavily Friday front loaded - what should save it from a quick exit is the limited number of releases next weekend. All that said, expect this to see a swift entrance onto DVD. This is Alba's fifth release in about six months, only one of which has seen any kind of decent success (Silver Surfer).

27 Dresses refuses to go quietly into the night and see a percentage drop of just 37% in its third weekend of release. Unlike Cloverfield which opened against it, 27 Dresses has dug into the top ten and has already seen off the aforementioned movie along with last weekend's champion's Meet The Spartans and Rambo. 27 Dresses now has a very real chance of surpassing Cloverfield's box office total and should see another weekend at least, of decent box office. Meanwhile Juno actually moves back up the chart as it crosses $110M. Furthermore it's soundtrack album is also flying off the shelves and it's sure to have pushed Ellen Page into the big leagues.

Last weekend's winner, Meet the Spartans, sees the expected huge drop (61%). It'll be history in two weekends and be on DVD before the end of April. It'll turn a tidy profit for the studio and you can bet they're already hard at work on the next one. The only good thing is that it'll likely finish up with less than Epic Movie. Bring back Airplane and The Naked Gun.

Rambo, like the Spartans, also sees a big drop in its second weekend of release. It should go on to perform well in the international market and might end up with around $100M when final numbers are released. Sylvester Stallone has stated that this will be the last Rambo movie for him, the same as he did with Rocky last year. He's currently developing a remake of Death Wish. The Bucket List crossed the $60M mark on Wednesday as it prepares to expand into foreign territories. It'll finish up with around $85M. Untraceable, which did some decent business on opening weekend loses around half of its business and should be lucky to hang on in the top ten for a third weekend. The internet serial killer romp will be lucky to recoup its estimated $35M budget without factoring in DVD sales.

And so to Cloverfield. In just two weeks it's come and practically gone. Possibly one of the heaviest front loaded movies there's ever been, it did what it came to do - make money and do it quickly. The problem was that the big secret was the selling point and once that was out in the open, there was no real reason to rush out and see it, hence so many flocking to see it before it was spoilt. Only pure luck will stop the film from leaving the top ten next weekend. Director Matt Reeves is already in discussion for a sequel, though how that would work could be as interesting as the secrecy that surrounded the initial project. Let's hope we're not looking at a Blair Witch: Book of Shadows.

There Will Be Blood doubles its screen count to 1,500 as we see Daniel Day Lewis take yet another award for his role as one of the first oil barons. The film has been a difficult sell and in some regard it's only its award wins and limited, but impressive word of mouth that are keeping it in the public eye. The film was never set to be a crowd pleaser or fit into any comfortable boxes and it's refreshing to see such a film becoming something of a success.

Of other new releases, Strange Wilderness and Over Her Dead Body failed to conjure up much business, even with Paul Rudd and Eva Longoria toplining the latter.