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"Glory" be to skating kings of comedy
2007-04-03
The icemen cometh at the North American box office last weekend as Will Ferrell and Jon Leder, outfitted as a comically paired figure skating team, took home the gold. Continuing Ferrell's current hot streak, "Blades of Glory," a DreamWorks production released through Paramount Pictures, copped the top spot, pulling in $33.01 million for the three days beginning March 30, according to final data issued Monday. It wasn't Ferrell's biggest opening ever. That stat belongs to last summer's "Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which bowed to $47 million. But the "Blades" opening registered higher than both "Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy" ($28.4 million) and "Elf" ($31.1 million). Disney's animated "Meet the Robinsons" took a solid second place with its opening haul of $25.12 million. The family-friendly adventure displayed its most moxie in the theaters showing the 3-D version of the film, taking in $7.1 million from the 581 screens on which it played. Miramax Films' "The Lookout" didn't quite reach wide-release status -- it opened in 955 theaters. And it didn't quite make the top 10 either, settling for 11th place. Writer Scott Frank's directorial debut -- a heist film starring Joseph Gordon-Levitt -- took in just over $2.02 million. The weekend as a whole saw a decline in business from the comparable weekend in 2006, when 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age: The Meltdown" warmed up the box office with a commanding $68 million. Over this past weekend, the 104 films tracked by the Hollywood Reporter collectively grossed $127.4 million. That represented a 10% drop from the parallel weekend in 2006, which drew in $142.1 million. Among the weekend's holdovers, Warner Bros. Pictures' "300" demonstrated its muscle. The Spartan tale fell just 42% from the previous weekend as it took in another $11.43 million, bringing its domestic gross-to-date to $179.94 million and putting it on track to crest the $200 million mark. Disney's road comedy "Wild Hogs" tooled along the open road. Slipping one place to No. 5, it grabbed $8.66 million, bringing its purse to $135.63 million. Warners' animated "TMNT," the previous weekend's top grosser, fell to fourth place, picking up $9.23 million to bring its tally to $38.50 million. Paramount Pictures' thriller "Shooter," starring Mark Wahlberg, fell three places to No. 6. It picked off $8.36 million. Its 10-day gross stands at $27.58 million. "TMNT" and "Shooter" both showed more staying power than the other sophomore entries like Fox Atomic's "The Hills Have Eyes II," Sony Pictures' "Reign Over Me" and New Line's "The Last Mimzy," which slumped to eighth, ninth and 10th place, respectively. Meanwhile, in limited release, Fox Searchlight's "The Namesake," from director Mira Nair, added 120 theaters, bringing its theater count to 237. It consequently moved up three places to No. 12 with $1.55 million, which brings its balance to date to $4.61 million. Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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