It was a mad house at the box office this weekend with six, count them, six new wide releases trampling onto the scene. Sometimes quantity isn't better than quality and that was certainly the case here. All six competitors fell clearly into the "just OK" to the "don't waste your time" categories. Of course, someone has to win, but it wasn't the people paying for the tickets.
I expected the heroes on the half shell of TMNT to be duking it out with horror flick The Hills Have Eyes 2 for the number one spot. I'm happy to say I was only half right. TMNT drew in $25 million and the top seller of the weekend, but The Hills Have Eyes 2 only mustered $10 million and took the seventh place seat. 300 the number one movie for the last two weeks dropped to second but is still holding its place as the highest grossing film of the year so far, a title it will no doubt hold until Spider-Man smashes onto the scene in May. All the other new releases were scattered across the top ten with feel good swim team flick Pride having the least to cheer about. It came in ninth overall with a paltry $4 million.
Next weekend Disney dishes out the animated Meet The Robinsons against Will Ferrel and Jon Heder as ice skating partners in Blades of Glory. In smaller release The Lookout (only 1000 theaters) will make an appearance as well. Robinsons looks cute, but never underestimate the power of Ferrel running around doing silly stuff in bizarre costumes. Talladega Nights was number one by a landslide when it debuted and I expect about the same this time around.
