Film Box Office Per Screen Total
1 Spider-Man 3 $148,000,000 $34,807 $148,000,000
2 Disturbia $5,720,000 (-36.6%) $1,826 $59,883,000
3 Fracture $3,420,000 (-49.8%) $1,446 $26,453,000
4 The Invisible $3,125,000 (-59.5%) $1,547 $12,346,000
5 Ouch $2,768,000 (-61.2%) $1,012 $11,835,000
6 Lucky You $2,515,000 $996 $2,515,000
7 Meet the Robinsons $2,466,000 (-49.1%) $1,170 $91,771,000
8 Blades of Glory $2,302,000 (-55.4%) $1,089 $111,632,000
9 Hot Fuzz $2,054,000 (-57.9%) $1,622 $16,145,000
10 Are We Done Yet? $1,700,000 (50.7%) $997 $46,106,000

The Guessing Tree was:
Jeremy with $118 – WRONG!
Devin with $120 Million – WRONG!
Me with $124 Million – WRONG!
Micah with $133 Million – WRONG!
But Dan went highest with $136 Million and he wins an all expense paid trip to a staple remover factory! (Message board poster Film Nerd Jamie was the closest with $153) But Dan threw in $6.5 mil for Lucky You – WRONG!

Spider-Man 3 made pile upon pile of money. I understand a dump truck loaded with rare coins and tea cozies was taken to Sam Raimi’s house this morning. But that’s only the rumor. On the Street.

Lucky You died an honorable death with the lowest per screen of any film in the top ten. Lower than Are We Done Yet? Looking and smelling like left-out meat will kinda do that.

As for the success of Spider-Man 3, it’s huge. Then again, the film was on more screens than any film has ever been on before and opened in a vacuum (whereas Pirates $135 had some real – Superman – competition). That said, it’s likely this number won’t be topped this year, simply because Sony could get it everywhere since the next best picture did nearly 1/25th of the business, and they probably cut deals to get more prints out there than normal. That may sound like a bad thing (per screen isn’t always per screen), but with the front-loaded business of cinemas these days, it’s undeniable, and will surely be adopted as a smart business process when dealing with these sort of titles. With the drop in business being what it is, Sony likely guaranteed themselves a $400 domestic with the Memorial Day weekend bounce.

Fans of the film may feel validated, while critics may decide that this is proof that the American public is stupid. As with any current box office success, the truth is that people liked the last one a lot, the advertising was good, and summer season has started. And that’s it. If the Chud Boards are any reflection of the vox populi – or even Rotten Tomatoes – then the response is mixed everywhere. Likely that’s how the body at large feels. That said, SM3 is likely – likely – to be entering next weekend with a $200 million roll, or should cross that line by Friday. It’s going to get to $200 in seven or eight days, which will be the new best record to beat. And it should get to $300 sometime during the opening weekend of Shrek, unless that word of mouth is poison. But that’s what next week will show.

As for me and my guestimates, let me say this: I play poker. Not an insane amount, but enough to know you the only way to win is to play the cards you’re dealt. As such, I tend to bet conservatively at every step of the way, because it’s always better to play what you have, than going all in when you’re unsure. And even pocket bullets can fuck you. So, let me say that my guesses will likely always be conservative, unless I see a clear winner. In this case, I knew the film was going to be big, but everyone I heard from who had seen it had mixed reactions. And so did the public, but they want to see things before they feel mixed on them. You can’t stop people from wanting to judge a juggernaut for themselves. And that’s that.