Mar 3 2008 'Semi-Pro' Not a 'Slam Dunk' This Weekend and 'Basketball'
1. Semi-Pro - A weak $15.2 million weekend sent studios a clear message that it takes more than just Will Ferrell, a sport, and some wacky sideburns to bring in audiences. It takes Will Ferrell, a zany sport, and a funny mustache.
2. Vantage Point - $13 million, and I can't wait for ADvantage Point!
3. The Spiderwick Chronicles - Kids + fantasy stuff = $8.8 million
4. The Other Boleyn Girl - $8.3 million, plus a preemptive Best Costumes Oscar.
5. Jumper - Answering what it would be like to have the ability to teleport, and also be thoroughly unlikable, earns $7.6 million.
Weekend Box Office [Box Office Mojo]
Feb 25 2008 'Vantage Point' Wins Weekend Box Office
1. Vantage Point - Promising eight strangers and eight distinct points of view, the thriller earned $24 million despite stealing the concept from Jenna Jameson Does 8 Strangers with Cameras.
2. Jumper - Teenage boys flock to theaters, paying $12.7 million in the hopes of that inevitable scene where someone teleports into a girl's locker room. Only later do they remember it's invisibility where you do that.
3. The Spiderwick Chronicles - A requisite $12.6 million to whatever children's fantasy placeholder is there this week.
4. Step Up 2 the Streets - After earning another $9.8 million this weekend, I can't wait for the sequel, Step Up 2 the Streets 2: The Str33ts.
5. Fool's Gold - $6.3 million, mostly repeat viewers who didn't quite get it the first time.
Weekend Box Office Results [Box Office Mojo]
Feb 19 2008 'Jumper', Lincoln Win President's Day Weekend
1. Jumper - $31.7 million, making it the biggest opening ever for a Third Eye Blind video.
2. The Spiderwick Chronicles - A $24.5 million opening has filmmakers scrambling to put together Spiderwick 2, and to find a way to work Venom in.
3. Step Up 2 the Streets - The competitive dance trend makes a successful, terrifying leap from something lazily watched because it's on after something else to something you leave the house and actually pay for, making $21.5 million.
4. Fool's Gold - Another $15 million, finally covering the film's bronzer budget.
5. Definitely, Maybe - There's no 'maybes' that this $11.4 million opening showed America needed a lighthearted rom-com to get their minds off this war. Y'know what I mean, man?
4-Day Weekend Box Office [Box Office Mojo]
Dec 12 2007 'Spiderwick Chronicles' Poster, by a Drunk Tim Burton
Unless this is actually Bridge to Terabithia 2 I'm a little let down by this poster. It just doesn't say "this will scare the shit out of children" like the trailer did. Why not make the trees literally say that? "Beware: This will scare the shit out of your children, but they probably deserve it."
Nov 20 2007 'Spiderwick Chronicles' Trailer Will Terrify Children
Finally, it looks someone is making the kind of fantastical kids movie that I knew and loved in my youth: the kind that's utterly terrifying. Harry Potter and Narnia have their scary moments, but it's nothing like the nightmarish Wheelers of Return to Oz, or the terrifying leotard bulge of David Bowie in Labyrinth. But with transforming goblins and giant ogres, The Spiderwick Chronicles looks like a spirited return to giving kids nightmares as entertainment, which is, strangely, what I think we all look back most fondly on.
The Spiderwick Chronicles Trailer [Yahoo!]
