Mel Gibson‘s Apocalypto is being projected to win the weekend with $14,913,000 as of Sunday evening….a little over $6 grand a print. The tracking indicated less, and while the 14 % negative rating may have hurt some, it didn’t hurt much. The weekend’s big loser is Ed Zwick‘s Blood Diamond, a fifth-place finisher expected to tally $7,936,000, or a little over $4000 a print. For a movie that cost $80 to $100 million to shoot, less than $8 million on the first weekend means the game is basically over except for the Leonardo DiCaprio Best Actor heat.
Happy Feet will end up with something close to $13,284,000, down around 24% from last weekend, for a second-place finish. (Obviously a very good hold.) As expected, Nancy MeyersThe Holiday is doing better than Thursday’s tracking indcated. It’ll end up with something like $12,319,000, which is pretty good for this time of year. Casino Royale will be fourth with $8,788,000, Deja Vu will be sixth with $5,582,000, Unaccompanied Minors in seventh place with $5,238,000 (a wipeout), The Nativity Story with $4,686,000 (going nowhere), the ninth-place Deck the Halls with $3,845,000 and Santa Claus 3 rounding out the pack with $3,150,000.