Top Shelf at the Box Office for 4/13/09

Easter weekend tends to be a slow weekend for movies, with most people out suffering through family dinners or on their hands and knees scavenging for hard boiled eggs. There's also a fair amount of Cadbury creme egg consumption and I assume a large spike in sugar diabetes cases. This year was something different, however, as people came out in droves to their local theaters to see a rack of vastly different flicks. Me, I spent practically my entire weekend at the movies(4 flicks in three days), so maybe it was just something in the air.

1. Hannah Montana: The Movie- $34M

Disney initially estimated that this junk would equal the opening weekend of The Lizzie McGuire movie, but Miley showed her box office punch by more than doubling those predictions. I admittedly know next to nothing about Hannah Montana, Miley Cyrus(they're the same person, right?), Billy Ray Cyrus, Osiris, or whoever else is in this thing. I do expect that this will probably be the #1 film for a second week based off the relative weakness of the upcoming slate of films. As for whether or not this Cyrus thing is here to stay, I doubt it. At some point she's going to get older, and her appeal will fade away as she starts gettin' banged out by rock stars and doing Maxim spreads. But for now she's a box office juggernaut.

2. Fast & Furious- $28.8M/$118M

Last week's numero uno skidded into second place amidst a 59% drop in box office revenue. That's not really all that surprising, considering this type of movie typically doesn't perform well on a weekend that's mostly reserved for family oriented films. What is surprising is that F&F actually beat out Hannah Montana on Saturday, showing that this movie still has a lot of staying power.

3. Monsters vs. Aliens- $22.6M/$141M

I expected this to actually beat out F&F this week based, but I wasn't that far off. Dreamworks' animated epic is holding on strong for a third week in a row and I'm willing to bet that it retains a top 5 spot next week, based on the strength of the film and it's expansion to IMAX.

4. Observe & Report- $11.1M

This has got to be a bit disappointing. Seth Rogen's latest, an extremely dark comedy about a bipolar mall cop didn't really strike a chord with audiences or critics. A lot of it probably has to do with the somewhat confusing marketing campaign. But I'm betting that another factor is it's close proximity to Paul Blart: Mall Cop, another similarly themed film. That film at this point was #1 at the box office with more than triple the receipts of O&R. With two straight Rogen films topping out at $11M on opening weekend, the question becomes whether or not audiences are going through something of a Seth Rogen Fatigue? His next movie, Funny People, also starring Adam Sandler might be the deciding factor.

5. Knowing- $6.67M/$68M

Really? This is still in the top 5? I'm going to go out on a limb and say that maybe the religiously tinged picture benefitted from the Easter weekend. Knowing had the second smallest drop from last week, a surefire sign of strength.

6. I Love You, Man-$6.41M/$59M

Recorded the smallest drop of the week at only 17%. This one's got legs.

7. The Haunting in Connecticut- $5.71M/$46.3M

8. Dragonball Evolution- $4.65M

Supposedly the script for the sequel is already completed. I'm wondering if, after seeing the total box office for this week, if the studio heads have already wiped their asses with it or used it to line their birds' cages. Opening at over 2100 screens, nobody saw this thing. Except for me and the 10(!) other people at the showing I went to. It's opening take is roughly the same as Street Fighter: The Legend of Chun-Li....but that film had far fewer screens. I expect this will do better internationally, but having a bunch of Americans playing the very Japanese roles might hurt even that.

9. Adventureland- $3.43M/$11.4M

Be ashamed, America!

10. Duplicity- $3M/$36.8M

Certified dud. Be double ashamed, America!