Other Crap

Weekend Box Office Results for August 15–17, 2008

I have seen Tropic Thunder's results spun in both directions. Some say it is disappointing, given the magnitude of the hype and the budget. Others say it performed beautifully for an R-rated comedy by winning the weekend by a mile despite opening at midnight on Tuesday, thus siphoning off its most enthusiastic audience before the weekend began. There is merit to both positions. Whichever spin you choose to accept, the one thing certain is that nobody expected it to win the weekend so convincingly. I wonder how it might have done if rated PG-13, thus allowing all of Stiller's and Jack Black's fans to get into the theaters.

The Star Wars film disappointed some of the analysts, while others knew it would attract only a niche audience.

Mirrors and the Woody Allen film performed somewhat better than expected. Woody's Vicky Cristina Barcelona actually produced the second-highest average gross per theater, losing only to Tropic Thunder.

Overall the weekend was about even with last year's comp. (+4%)