The Box-Office Top Five
#1 "Race to Witch Mountain" ($25 million)
#2 "Watchmen" ($18.1 million)
#3 "The Last House on the Left" ($14.7 million)
#4 "Taken" ($6.7 million)
#5 "Madea Goes to Jail" ($5.1 million)
Moviegoers were largely uninterested in watching (or re-watching) Warner Bros.' "Watchmen" this weekend. Despite screenwriter David Hayter's pleas for fans to support the film on its second weekend, "Watchmen" dropped a startling 67 percent in box-office gross, bringing in just $18.1 million and a total of $86 million. While box-office analysts point to its drop as a mark of failure, Warner Bros. insists it is happy with the numbers, arguing that the drop-off is normal for a big release.
"Race to Witch Mountain" was the big winner this week. Disney's reworking of the 1975 film "Escape to Witch Mountain" had a solid opening at $25 million. While it gained momentum from being the lone family-friendly offering, exit polls indicated that 18 percent of attendees were without children, which suggests that nostalgia might have played a big part in the movie's take.
Another 1970s remake, "The Last House on the Left" came in at a respectable #3 with $14.7 million. It met Universal's expectations, but didn't match the big business of some of the year's other horror offerings. (For example, 2009's first horror flick, "The Unborn," also debuted at #3, but with $21.1 million.)
But not all newcomers managed to crack the top five — in fact, "Miss March" barely cracked the top 10, landing right at the bottom of the list with a mere $2.4 million in its first weekend. Instead, the top five was once again home to "Taken," which is the first action thriller since "The Dark Knight" to spend seven weeks in the top five, and "Madea Goes to Jail," which has taken in a total of $83.2 million, making it one of Tyler Perry's most successful films.
But overall, the box office was down. The total gross was only $101 million, a 16 percent decline from last year, and one of the weakest weeks of 2009 so far. Time will tell if the drop was due to the films having limited appeal, or if the economy is starting to take its toll.
Upcoming Releases
Julia Roberts and Clive Owen mix business with pleasure in the spy thriller "Duplicity," Nicolas Cage follows the numbers in "Knowing," and Paul Rudd and Jason Segel celebrate their bromance in the R-rated comedy "I Love You, Man."
Check out everything we've got on "Race to Witch Mountain,""Watchmen" and "The Last House on the Left."
For breaking news, celebrity columns, humor and more — updated around the clock — visit MTVMoviesBlog.com.
‘Watchmen’ Guards Box-Office #1
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