Weekened Box Office: "300" Is #1

A massive opening weekend for "300," which did better than anyone imagined. It's the third highest R-rated movie EVER -- behind only "The Matrix Reloaded" and "The Passion of the Christ." I thought the trailers have looked very cool, Frank Miller has tons of cred and it seemed a lot more fun than the equally visually daring "Sin City" (which I also found interesting), so this isn't a shocker but really satisfying. However lacking in depth the film may be, it was a roll of the dice. Anyone trying to read politics into it, however, is just being silly. "Zodiac" fell hard because it's certainly not a crowd pleaser. But I won't be at all surprised if it's on my best of the year list come next January and I certainly want to see it again before it leaves theaters. "Ghost Rider" hit $100 mil, which looks fine to the accountants but is basically an embarrassment to everyone involved. And "Bridge To Terabithia" is doing great -- imagine what it might have done without that awful, misleading ad campiagn. It's not just the bait and switch of implying this was a fantasy film. The big problem for me was the print and TV ads made it look like such a cheesy fantasy film. I hope they change the artwork for the DVD release. The top 10, per Box Office Prophets:

1. 300 -- $70 million total
2. Wild Hogs -- $28 million ($77.4 million total)
3. Bridge To Terabithia -- $6.9 million ($67 million total)
4. Ghost Rider -- $6.8 million ($104.1 million total)
5. Zodiac -- $6.77 million ($23.7 million total)
6. The Number 23 -- $4.3 million ($30.5 million total)
7. Norbit -- $4.3 million ($88.3 million total)
8. Music and Lyrics -- $3.8 million ($33.8 million total)
9. Breach -- $2.6 million ($29.1 million total)
10. Amazing Grace -- $2.5 million ($11.4 million total)