Epic Movie will be #1 this weekend with a projected $17,368,000 by Sunday night. It wasn’t press-screened, is said to be a piece of shit and will almost certainly be over and out the door by next week or the week after. Joe Carnahan‘s Smokin’ Aces (which I don’t give a damn about seeing) will manage a decent $14,129,000 on 2200 screens, roughly $6300 a print. Night at the Museum will be #3 with $8,601,000 for a total cume of $215,900,000. (The American public likes what it likes.)
Catch and Release will end up in fourth place with $7,737,000 — 1600 theatres, 4700 a print…fair but far from encouraging. And fifth place Stomp the Yard will earn $6,980,000 this weekend.
Dreamgirls is going to attain a total cume of $85,900,000 by Sunday night, but it’s sinking and sputtering. It’ll make about $5,946,000 this weekend, for an average of $2100 a theatre. Dreamamount added about 500 theatres this weekend but it’ll be down 26% regardless. It’ll probably eke out $100 million, okay, but it’s over — they didn’t get the key nominations, they’ll be losing theatres in a week or two, and it’s all downhill from here on. They’ll be down to a $3 or $3.5 million haul next weekend.
The Pursuit of Happyness will come in seventh with $4,449,000. Pan’s Labyrinth, bolstered by six Oscar nominations, has added about 300 theatres and will do about $4,119,000. The Queen will do about $3,852,000, having added 300 theatres. The Hitcher will do about $3,375,000. Blood and Chocolate, a horror flick, will end up with $1,900,000…$1600 a theatre at 1200 theatres…forget it.