U.S Box Office Report - 20th - 22nd April 2007

1. Disturbia - $13.4M - $40.6M
2. Fracture - $11.1M - $11.1M
3. Blades of Glory - $7.8M - $101M
4. Vacancy - $7.6M - $7.6M
5. Meet the Robinsons - $7M - $82.2M
6. Hot Fuzz - $5.8M - $5.8M
7. Are We Done Yet? - $3.6M - $13.2M
8. In the Land of Women - $4.9M - $4.9M
9. Perfect Stranger - $4.1M - $18M
10. Wild Hogs - $2.8M - $156.2M

Another weekend and another four new releases hit theatres but none seem able to dent teen thriller Disturbia. The shock number one last weekend spends a second outing in the top spot and is off just over 50%. Not only that but it's managed to see off its main rival, the Anthony Hopkins thriller Fracture. Disturbia's teen demographic are helping a great deal and the not too bad word of mouth isn't doing the film any harm either. This should turn into a nice hit for Dreamworks (it only cost $20M) and serve as a solid launching block for Shia Labeouf.

Fracture on the other hand was expected to open much stronger and analysts had it seeing off Disturbia by at least a million dollars. Fracture has Anthony Hopkins as a murderer and the recently Oscar-nominated Ryan Gosling as a lawyer on the up who is set to prosecute him in what should be an open and shut case. The film recieved a mix of reviews but the majority were positive if not stunning. Gosling is being seen as the next 'actor of a generation' while Hopkins could have performed the role in his sleep. Competition came from the aforementioned Disturbia and another new entry in the shape of Vacancy, which opened at number four. Fracture should manage a few weeks in the top ten but will quickly be forgotten as summer season kicks off.

Blades of Glory crosses the $100M mark this weekend, only the fourth movie to do so this year. It now has Ghost Rider's $115M total firmly in its sights. The film should end up doubling its production budget and will finish up as one of the biggest comedies of the year.

Kate Beckinsale and Luke Wilson star in Vacancy, our second new entry this weekend. The duo play a couple who break down in the middle of nowhere. Managing to get to seedy motel they discover they're about to become the next victims in a snuff film. Unlike recent horror hits such as Hostel & The Hills Have Eyes, Vacancy goes for suspense over blood letting. That may have worked on stealing some of the market heading to see Fracture but it didn't help rope in the lucrative horror crowd. This will fall fast and be out of the charts in two weeks. Vacancy might have benefited from being delayed until after the summer. It's opened up against one new thriller and one established one but had it opened next weekend it'd be up against another four new releases, a week later and it'd be up against Spiderman 3. This'll be on DVD by August.

As the only true kid-friendly film on the market, Meet The Robinsons has the family demographic pretty much to itself. In fact, there's no direct competition on the horizon until the May 18th release of Shrek The Third. What might stop Meet The Robinsons reaching $100M before leaving the chart is the slew of releases all vying for attention in the coming weekends. Eleven new movies will all open wide over the next three weekends. While Robinsons might bring in the family crowd, theatre owners might want to utilise their screens for new releases. All that said, this is a decent hit for Disney (with a little Pixar involvement) and should make a tidy profit before a lucrative DVD release.

British Comedy Hot Fuzz is the big success of the week, even with that number six opening. The film is in just 825 locations, compare that to the 3,400 of Blades, 3100 of Disturbia and the 2500 of Vacancy and you start to see how big a hit the Simon Pegg comedy is. The film should end the weekend with the best location/dollar take of any movie in the top twenty. The film has already been a smash in a number of foreign markets and with its initial US take has achieved a global total of over $50M. Riding on the back of the success of Shaun of the Dead and some very good reviews & word of mouth Hot Fuzz should see a decent second weekend even with the increased competition.

Are We Done Yet? hasn't even reached half the take of prequel Are We There Yet? and is probably seeing its last weekend in the top ten.

Our final new entry this weekend is the little hyped In The Land of Women, starring Adam Brody, Kristen Stewart & Meg Ryan. Hoping to pick up some of the female demographic this romantic drama might actually finish even lower when final numbers are released. I think we can assume the female demographic went to see Fracture or Disturbia.

Opening poorly last weekend, Perfect Stranger fails to keep much of hold, dropping another five places. This will be its last weekend on the charts and neither Bruce Willis or Halle Berry will be mentioning much in future interviews. The top ten is rounded out by Wild Hogs, fast approaching a global box office total of $200M.

Grindhouse finishes well outside the top ten. It was revealed during the week that The Weinstein Company actually tested the film last weekend as two seperate movies in some location to equally disappointing results. There are no future plans to re-release either film, though Tarantino's segment Death Proof will be expanded for a special showing at Cannes in May.