Weekend Box Office

As expected, Watchmen topped the charts this weekend.  So why are some folks calling it a disappointment?

There are two ways to interpret Watchmen’s $55.6 million haul this past weekend.  On the one hand, that’s an impressive number for a hard-R rated film based on a less-than-mainstream comic filled with bone-breaking, bloody violence, soft-core sex scenes and a giant blue schlong.  At the same time though, Watchmen is lagging substantially behind other recent comic-book blockbusters like Iron Man, The Incredible Hulk and The Dark Knight.  And considering how mixed word of mouth is–even amongst the film’s target fanboy audience–there’s no way Watchmen will match the $210 million earned by director Zack Snyder’s previous film, 300.  In fact, even $150 million looks like a long way off right now.  Snyder can take heart in knowing that Watchmen will likely be a cash cow on DVD as the studio has already announced plans to offer at least three different versions of the movie.  But let’s just say it’s a good thing he never planned on making a sequel, because based on these preliminary numbers there’s no way Watchmen 2 is ever getting a greenlight.

With no other movies going into wide release on Friday, the rest of this week’s Top Ten remains more or less locked in place.  Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail continues to print money, earning $8.8 million for a $76.5 million total gross, making it Perry’s biggest hit to date.  Liam Neeson’s Taken is holding up like a champ as well, finishing in third place with $7.4 million.  Slumdog Millionaire took fourth place with $6.9 million and cruised past The Curious Case of Benjamin Button to become the highest-grossing film of 2008’s Best Picture nominees.  And Paul Blart: Mall Cop rounded out the top five, adding another $4.2 million to its substantial box-office girth.

Next to Watchmen’s debut, perhaps this weekend’s biggest surprise was the total collapse of the Jonas Brothers phenomenon, as their 3-D concert movie crumbled all the way down to ninth place.  Guess its time for an image makeover guys–ditch those purity rings for some Tommy Lee-style tattoos!  Instead of spending time with the brothers Jonas, families apparently decided to hang with the pint-sized heroine of Coraline, as that stop-motion animated film continues to show impressive staying power, holding strong at seventh place.  Chick flicks He’s Just Not That Into You and Confessions of a Shopaholic occupied sixth and eight places respectively and the cheerleading comedy Fired Up! beat out The Reader for tenth place by thismuch.

Check out the full Top Ten below, courtesy of the-numbers.com.  Next week, GIANT cover star Dwayne Johnson takes on the Watchmen with his family-oriented action film Race to Witch Mountain and the Last House on the Left remake looks to attract the horror crowd.

The Top Ten: March 6-8, 2009
Watchmen: $55.6
Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes to Jail: $8.8/$76.5
Taken: $7.5/$118
Slumdog Millionaire: $6.9/$125.4
Paul Blart: Mall Cop: $4.2/$133.6
He’s Just Not That Into You: $4/$84.6
Coraline: $3.3/$65.6
Confessions of a Shopaholic: $3.1/$38.3
Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience: $2.8/$16.8
Fired Up!: $2.6/$13.3