This Monday morning, Renny Harlin will be riding around the streets of Los Angeles in a specially built car proclaiming, “I have the Number One film in America! I am officially best!” But it’ll be a hollow victory.
For his latest movie – The OC-meets-Harry-Potter blend of teen angst and superpowers known as The Covenant – has won the weekend, but it did so with just $9 million dollars. It’s a win, but it’s the lowest chart topper since David Spade’s “comedy” Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star, which launched with $6.7 million three years ago. Let’s see if word of mouth has an effect next week…
Also arriving this weekend is what everyone’s calling Ben Affleck’s comeback, Hollywoodland. With Adrien Brody and Diane Lane featuring in the mystery of legendary TV Superman star George Reeves’ death, the movie made $6 million and leaped several tall buildings to land in second place.
The only other new opening this week was Tony Jaa’s follow-up to Ong Bak, The Protector. It’s faced some fan chatter about the US version arriving eviscerated courtesy of the Weinsteins, but it still looks like this second serving from Jaa isn’t exactly as popular as his first. The movie made a relatively low $5 million and turned up in fourth.
The rest of the charts sees a few slips and some films hanging on nicely. Invincible finally stopped living up to its name, and dropped to third with $5.8 million. Crank sank a few places, making $4.8 million in its second week. The indie love-fest continues for Little Miss Sunshine and The Illusionist, while Talladega Nights prepares to screech out of the chartss till show ing a healthy ability to grab the cash. Less successful is The Wicker Man, which is looking more like a burned ruin. The remake has taken just $17 million in the US so far.
The box office figures always wanted to be special. But they never expected this! Chart time…
Title
Weekend Gross
Total Gross
Week #
1
**The Covenant
** $9,000,000
$9,000,000
1
2
Hollywoodland $6,008,000
$6,008,000
1
3
Invincible
$5,784,000
$45,654,000
3
4
**The Protector
**
$5,032,228
$5,032,000
1
5
Crank
$4,800,000
$19,859,000
2
6
**The Illusionist
**
$4,639,000
$18,089,000
4
7
**Little Miss Sunshine
**
4,425,000
$41,646,000
7
8
**The Wicker Man
**
$4,120,000
$17,490,000
2
9
Talladega Nights
$3,000,000
$142,181,000
6
10
Barnyard
$2,586,000
$66,885,000
6