U.S Box Office Report - 29th Feb - 2nd March 2008

1. Semi-Pro - $15.3M - $15.3M
2. Vantage Point - $13M - $41M
3. The Spiderwick Chronicles - $8.8M - $55M
4. The Other Boleyn Girl - $8.3M - $8.3M
5. Jumper - $7.6M - $66.8
6. Step Up 2 The Streets -  $5.7M - $48.5M
7. Fool's Gold - $4.6M - $59M
8. Penelope - $4M - $4M
9. No Country For Old Men - $4M - $4M
10. Juno - $3.3M - $135M

Right about now Will Ferrell is wondering what he's done wrong. Semi-Pro was expected to open big just like Tallegda Nights and Blades of Glory had. It had all the right ingredients - Ferrell in a wacky sports comedy, with off the wall humour and some familiar faces in support. Early word pointed out nothing out of the ordinary and Ferrell was looking at a $30M+ weekend. Nights had opened to $47M while Blades did $33M at the end of March last year and even a straighter role, Stranger Than Fiction, gave him a $13M opening weekend.


So far, no idea what went wrong, a Ferrell comedy is generally critic and bad trailer proof so perhaps people were just tired of him playing the same kind of character one too many times? It could be argued that his role in Anchorman was also only slightly removed from Semi- Pro's Jackie Moon so of his biggest movies of recent years, at least three quarters were based around the same kind of guy. Was Semi-Pro one too many? Furthermore, how much did that R-rating affect its box office? It'll be interesting to see how it performs next weekend but hopes won't be high - people would have expected to see a big opening and by not producing one, it'll won't fill the lategoers with any confidence to see it. Box Office Prophets called Semi-Pro Will Ferrell's Little Nicky....

After a higher than expected opening in its first frame, Vantage Point loses less than half its business in its second weekend of release. By Sunday morning the multi-angle thriller had recouped its relatively low production budget of $40M. Vantage Point's impressive but not strictly A-list cast (Dennis Quaid, Forrest Whittaker, Matthew Fox & Sigourney Weaver are all stars but not box offices draws as such) have helped sell tickets but kept that all important budget on the smaller side. A nice quick hit for Sony which should go on to see around $65M. Spiderwicke Chronicles is still reaping some of the rewards from being the only family friendly film in the top ten, but even with that ace on its side it's finding it hard going. Come next weekend it'll be lucky to see $5M and the total it's chasing, that of Bridge To Terabithia's $82M, will still be a long way off. Spiderwicke has had little international presence so far but its success there will dependant on the fan base of the book series.

Our next new entry, opening on just 1,166 screens had half decent start and one of the best screen to location taking of the top ten. The Other Boleyn Girl is a period drama starring Scarlett Johannson, Natalie Portaman and Eric Bana as Henry VIII. Trailers have been keen to play up the tight bodice angle and that seems to have worked to some degree. Word of mouth and review weren't anything to write home about but The Other Boleyn Girl could have been an easier date option than Semi-Pro, hence it's higher than expected (given its subject and location count) weekend total.

Jumper has slowed right down now in just its third weekend of release (it opened the same time as The Spiderwicke Chronicles) but is performing strong in the international market, where it's tally rivals that of its domestic take. It won't recoup its budget before leaving the top ten but factoring in those international numbers will turn Jumper into a decent hit. Only Cloverfield has made more money so far this year. Step Up 2 The Streets is also struggling somewhat but it's studio will be less worried given it's $30M budget. DVD numbers for this one will be huge and a sequel was greenlit this week - Step Up 3D.

As it has done on previous occasions, Fool's Gold has easily seen off nearest rival Definitely, Maybe. It won't rival the last time Kate Hudson and Matthew McConaughey teamed up in How To Lose A Guy in Ten Days ($105M) but again, factoring in it's potential international ticket sales it should turn a decent profit. Matthew McConaughey has five films in various states of production while Kate Hudson will next be seen in My Best Friend's Girl. After its Oscar success last Sunday, No Country for Old Men has been thrust into over 2000 locations and saw a pretty low return - mainly because word of mouth was so good, reviews were so good, that anyone who wanted to see the film has already done so in the previous sixteen weeks of release (not to mention it's hitting DVD shortly). No Country is the Cohen Brother's most successful film. They're currently on post production for Burn After Reading which reteams them with George Clooney, who'll also be re-teaming with his Michael Clayton star Tilda Swinton.

Shot in 2006 and sitting on the shelf since, Penelope finally sees a somewhat limited release. Starring Christina Ricci as the titular heroine, a girl born with a snout for a nose and Reese Witherspoon, before she won the Oscar for Walk The Line (and probably before she became the highest paid female star) Penelope is probably seeing its one and only week in the top ten. Sounds more like a contractual obligation than a proper theatrical release. Finally Juno, having been in the charts for nearly 13 weeks adds another $3.3M this weekend to bring it's total to a huge $135M.

Elsewhere, Be Kind, Rewind managed just one week in the top ten and will be unlikely to see any further expansion. It total take stands at $7.1M