By Scott Bowles, USA TODAYSorry, Jack Sparrow. You've just been robbed of your crown.
Johnny Depp and his pirate pals were no match for George Clooney and his con men colleagues as Ocean's Thirteen easily swiped the top spot at the box office.
Ocean's did $37.1 million, according to studio estimates from box office trackers Nielsen EDI. The haul exceeded most analysts' expectations and easily knocked Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End from the No. 1 perch, which it held for two weeks.
Although Ocean's had the lowest debut of the two previous installments —Ocean's Eleven opened at $38.1 million in 2001, while Ocean's Twelve did $39.2 million in 2004 — reviews have been stronger for this film than its predecessor, which sputtered to $125.5 million.
Since its release last month, Pirates has done $253.6 million.
"With the competition and marketplace, we're really happy with what we did," says Chuck Viane, head of distribution for Disney, which released Pirates. "We'll take second place."
The Judd Apatow comedy Knocked Up held well, dropping only 34% to take third and $20 million.
Audiences may be suffering from a little penguin fatigue, however. The animated comedy Surf's Up did $18 million and fourth place, about $6 million less than projections.
"Obviously, we'd like to see more kids continue to see this as they get out of school," says Rory Bruer of Sony Pictures, which released Surf's. The film, which received an A- from tracking firm CinemaScore, "which should give us word of mouth that will keep it around for a while," Bruer says.
Shrek the Third fell 44%, taking $13.6 million and fifth place. So far, the animated comedy has done $281.9 million, putting it on track to break $300 million.
The only other newcomer, Hostel: Part II, took sixth place with $8.8 million.
Despite many new films and event pictures still in theaters, ticket sales fell 8% from the same weekend last year. Still, ticket sales are up 5% in 2007 compared with last year.
Final figures are due Monday.
1 comment:
I think Hollywood's getting a "gimme" year. They were bitching and bitching about ticket sales during recent seasons and suddenly now all this cash is rolling in and the movies still suck. Suck worse, sometimes.
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