FILM: Box office outcome - 3/26/07

As I predicted, TMNT kicked 300 out of the top spot with $5 million more pesos in their little green pockets. And despite the skepticism of my high-class friends, Shooter debuted at #3, albeit with a pathetic gross of $14.5. An indie film I forgot to mention, The Last Mimzy, came in at #5. Rainn Wilson, who plays Dwayne in "The Office," stars in it with a bunch of kids who are developing abilities that are apparently derived from aliens. What kid wouldn't want to go see that?! The Hills Have Eyes II did better than Dead Silence when it debuted, probably because it was a sequel. Sadly Reign Over Me didn't do too well. It probably shouldn't have premiered around Spring Break season. Hard to bring up the subject of 9/11, when all anyone wants to do is lay out on the beach and guzzle tequila. For a minority-driven indie, Pride did pretty well, pulling in $4 mil. The only indie that suffered was First Snow, but then again it was only released to 3 theaters.

1. TMNT - $25.4 mil
2. 300 - $20.5 mil
3. Shooter - $14.5 mil
4. Will Hogs - $14.4 mil
5. The Last Mimzy - $10.2 mil
6. Premonition - $10.1 mil
7. The Hills Have Eyes II- $10 mil
8. Reign over me - $8 mil
9. Pride - $4 mil
10. Dead Silence -$3.5 mil
First Snow– $15,500 (3 theaters)

I didn't get to see Shooter. Instead I opted to spend my $7.50 on 300. The action was well-designed and well-orchestrated. The main characters King Leonidas (Gerard Butler) and Queen Gorgo (Lena Headey) were great at making you root for them. I don't want to spoil it, but both guys and ladies have a hero in this film. Xerxes (Rodrigo Santoro) was a ridiculous caricature of a villain in comparison to Theron (Dominic West) who didn't need to be 8ft tall and covered in gold to be a pompous political parasite on humankind. Other than Santoro's campy homoerotic display of power, I would've changed how uninvolved Leonidas' son was in the film. Maybe there'll be a sequel.

I'll be seeing The Lookout with Joseph Gordon Levitt this Friday night, but I'm sure everybody else will be bracing themselves for the overpowering display of machismo in Blades of Glory, which, if TMNT sucked, will glide into the #1 spot. And just so we're clear, I won't be seeing the movie with Levitt, he'll be in the movie.