I don’t really know what to say about this weekend’s box office tally, other than my ex-girlfriend from high school is probably happy, since she had a bizarre jones for Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, I think mostly to torment me. (Says a lot about that relationship, that…) The computer animated film TMNT (kids dig acronyms!) rung up $24.3 million in its debut frame, much of it probably from Splinter and his gape-mouthed extended family.
It’s 300 that continues to make its persuasive case for being the spring’s biggest story, commercially speaking — no shock, really, given young guys’ natural embrace of its blend of wry fatalism, skull-popping action and fantastical visual affectation. In its third week, Warner Bros.’ cash cow pulled in another $19.8 million, giving it $161.7 million in 17 days of release.
In new releases, Shooter triggered $14.5 million at just over 2,800 locations, the wretchedly titled The Last Mimzy pulled in $10 million at 3,017 venues and The Hills Have Eyes 2 (The Hills Get Glasses?) murdered to the tune of $9.7 million at 2,447 sites. Standout holdover Zodiac, meanwhile, plunged from eighth on the receipts chart to 16th, pulling in $1.16 million at 872 sites, and giving it $31.6 million in just over a month of release. Go ahead and pull the plug on that abysmally marketed mess, Paramount — hopefully a year-end re-release and second wave critical campaign resuscitates David Fincher’s gem. We’ll see, I suppose…