Weekend Box Office Results for February 20–22, 2009

Weekend Box Office Results for February 20–22, 2009

• For the third weekend in a row, the nation's box offices experienced an astronomical improvement over last year. (33% this week; more than 40% the previous two weeks.)
  
• The savior of the weekend was Medea Goes to Jail, which took in more than forty million despite opening in only 2000 theaters on Oscar weekend in February. (Blockbusters typically open in about 4000 theaters in the summer season, often on holiday weekends.) Medea took in about 40% more than expected!
  
• Slumdog went up again. It reached 5th place, which is the highest point it has reached - and this is its 15th week of distribution! It's the most impressive slow burner since My Big Fat Greek Wedding. In 11 of the past 14 weekends, it has improved over the previous weekend.
  
• The only really negative result of the week was the unprecedented drop of Friday the 13th, which plummeted 80% from last week! The previous record drop was not even 70% (the first Hulk film) among all films opening at $40 million or higher. The previous record for films in 3000 or more theaters was "only" a 72.7% drop (Doom). Friday 13th still could not break the record for the steepest drop among films in 2000 or more theaters. That dishonor still belongs to the infamous Gigli, the Affleck/J-Lo project which proved to be a complete embarassment for all concerned. (Well, except maybe for Affleck, who seems to have a very high embarrassment bar.)