U.S Box Office Report - 7th - 9th March 2008

1. 10,000 B.C. - $35.7M - $35.7M
2. College Road Trip - $14M - $14M
3. Vantage Point - $7.5M - $51.6M
4. Semi-Pro - $5.7M - $24.6M
5. The Bank Job - $5.7M - $5.7M
6. The Spiderwick Chronicles - $4.8M - $61.7M
7. The Other Boleyn Girl - $4.0M - $14.6M
8. Jumper - $3.7M - $72.5M
9. Step Up 2 The Streets - $3M - $53M
10. Fool's Gold - $2.8M - $62.8M

The Roland Emmerich prehistoric epic 10,000BC is the top movie of the weekend. Expected to worry some March records, BC didn't really hit the high notes like last March's 300 did, but a weekend take of $35M isn't a bad place to start, providing it can stack it on during the week and into next weekend. 10,000BC was always going to be the weekend winner but I imagine the studio would have loved to have seen a take closer to $50M. Unlike 300, BC had very little hype behind it and only the very latest of trailer picqued any interest.

With no stars to lock onto, the film had to concentrate on spectacle, which it appears to have in buckets. Director Roland Emmerich is used to epic, he's destroyed New York three times (and will do again in 2009 with his high priced script/movie '2012') and 10,000 BC opens only as his 4th biggest movie. With a rumoured budget of $75M, 10,000BC shouldn't be a failure but isn't the 'blockbuster outside of the blockbuster' season that many were predicting. Next weekend brings the limited release of Doomsday and Horton Hears A Who (3000+ locations) so it'll be interesting to see how 10,000BC shapes up against them - with a good second weekend it could become the biggest movie of 2008 by the end of the month.

Martin Lawrence is seeing two hits within the space of a month. While Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins was aimed at a slightly older audience, the G-rated College Road Trip (also starring Raven Symone of hit kid's show That's So Raven) is aimed squarely at the safe family market. With Lawrence playing a cop, College Road Trip sees him driving his daughter around a number of prospective colleges - hijinx ensue. Martin Lawrence certainly isn't the draw for this one, Raven Symone got the kids into the theatre who bought the rest of their family along for the trip (Ironically, College Road Trip started out as a potential R-rated National Lampoon movie). It faced limited competition from Spiderwicke Chronicles but might get hit harder than 10,000BC next weekend by Horton Hears A Who. College Road Trip should see a 50% drop and will go on to clean up on DVD.

Still showing a bit of pulling power is Vantage Point, now in its third weekend of release. It recouped its production budget last Sunday and currently sits on a total global take of over $70M. Not bad for a thriller that's basically the same 15 minutes of film told from numerous viewpoints. Expect its final international take to rival, if not beat, its domestic one. The same most certainly can't be said of the Will Ferrell flop Semi-Pro, which will be lucky to see $40M before it leaves the top ten. A huge drop off (62%) from an already disappointing opening weekend. The studio will have to go into damage control overdrive now and it wouldn't be a surprise to see Semi-Pro on unrated DVD before June. Ferrell will be hoping for a return to success in the summer with Step Brother in which he re-teams with Talledga Nights co-star John C Reilly.

Our only other new entry is the true story of a 1970s bank heist starring Jason Statham. The Bank Job (wrtten by Porridge creators/writers Dick Clement & Ian La Franais) was easily the best reviewed film of the week's releases with many comparing it to the classic heist capers of the sixties and seventies. Opening in a releatively limited location count of 1,603, The Bank Job had an ok screen to location take and should go on to perform better in the international market where Statham has seen his previous releases perform strongly. How the action crowd will react to Statham playing it straight and low key remains to be seen. The Bank Job is based on the infamous true story of a bank robbery in Baker St who's details have been under an official goverment gagging order ever since.

The Spiderwicke Chronicles has had its time now and sits on a somewhat disappointing $61M. It'll stay in the charts a while longer but only due to a lack of new releases. Of all the films in the top ten, it'll be the one that gets hit hardest by the release of Horton. The film had struggled since opening and while its weekend drops were low, it still wasn't enough. It's still more than $20M short of the final take of Bridge to Terabithia and even further from its production budget. Meanwhile, a minor success last weekend, The Other Boleyn Girl drops off roughly 50% in its second frame. It'll end up with around $25M when the dust settles and will need a good international take to shore it up. Sony chose to not expand the movie this weekend and that could have cost it another million or so.

Jumper is still a way short of its $85M production budget but it's international take has now crossed the $80M mark (the film's total global take hit $150M on Friday night). A sequel might still be in the offing though its doubtful that Doug Liman would return to direct. (See also Liman, Troubled productions & The Bourne Identity). Step Up 2 The Streets is seeing its last weekend on the charts and crossed the $50M mark on Friday night while Fool's Gold hit $60M at the same time.

Opening just outside the top ten was gentle comedy drama Miss Pettigrew Lives For A Day, starring Frances McDormand and Amy 'Enchanted' Adams. The film saw a weekend take of $2.5M.