Weekend Box Office Results for February 1–3, 2008

Weekend Box Office Results for February 1–3, 2008

Hannah Montana is a phenomenon. It won the box office by a mile, grossing more than the next three films added together. But that only says a small portion of it. It accomplished that despite appearing in only 683 theaters. It was essentially sold out. It averaged $42,000 per theater. The next best film averaged about $5,000.

The previous record for a #1 film was $35,000 per theater, held by Spidey 3. But Spidey could not have reached $42,000 unless every single ticket buyer had gone to see it, because it hit $35,000 with an 83.3% market share! That gives you an idea of just how well ol' Hannah did. There's no telling how many more Hannah Montana tickets could have been sold with a wider release.

Only five wide release films have ever averaged $30,000 or more: Spidey 1 and 3, Pirates 2, Borat, and Hannah Montana!

On the negative side of the ledger, three films experienced precipitous drops from last week: Cloverfield, Rambo, and Meet the Spartans. Cloverfield dropped below three films it beat last week - after its first disastrous tumble.

Those drops didn't matter much. Hannah Montana was so strong that the weekend finished 40% above last year's comp.