| Film | Weekend | Per Screen | Total | |
| 1 | Prom Night | $22,700,000 | $8,407 | $22,700,000 |
| 2 | Street Kings | $12,000,000 | $4,864 | $12,000,000 |
| 3 | 21 | $11,000,000 (-28.3%) | $4,020 | $62,268,000 |
| 4 | Nim’s Island | $9,000,000 (-31.9%) | $2,558 | $25,280,000 |
| 5 | Leatherheads | $6,207,000 (-51.1%) | $2,239 | $21,907,000 |
| 6 | Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who | $6,000,000 (-34.2%) | $1,869 | $139,628,000 |
| 7 | Smart People | $4,200,000 | $3,797 | $4,200,000 |
| 8 | The Ruins | $3,250,000 (-59.4%) | $1,154 | $13,413,000 |
| 9 | Superhero Movie | $3,114,000 (-42.5%) | $1,232 | $21,202,000 |
| 10 | Drillbit Taylor | $2,070,000 (-39.2%) | $938 | $28,461,000 |
This just in: Can a really good hangover cure cancer? Scientists say “no.” And “you know, I really do like Christopher Cross.”
Prom Night – the PG-13 remake of a rather shitty movie to begin with – has exceeded expectations to rock the house and the top slot of the weekend. When writing about box office, that a film like this makes more money than most great films, is disheartening. But I understand. It’s a slow weekend, and if you’ve already seen 21, what other options are there? Though it may struggle to hit $50, it’s a nice weekend for the picture and with next weekend’s soft openings (I can’t believe I just typed “soft openings.” Heh, heh. Heh) Prom Night could conceivably stay the #1 picture in America for two weeks running. As David Cross once said “I hate our freedom.”
Street Kings also performed better than expectations. What looked to be another cop pic in a genre that needs a real star to launch them, the film will likely get to at least $30 if not more. Even with Keanu Reeves as the star, the film was likely very very cheap. And that’s something. While the other new wide release, Smart People, will die quietly without assisted living care. It’ll stare wall-eyed for a while, but it’ll go peacefully. Better than drowning, that. There might even be a pillow for its tired and weary head.
Otherwise, people haven’t warmed to Leatherheads, and they mostly rejected The Ruins, which is scarier than the Prom Night remake. As the sexual chocolate known as Dave Davis once remarked (in the case I’m thinking of, it was about the legacy of Winston Churchill and the brown-eyes of the Olsen twins): “I don’t get it.” Horton should get to $150 as it’s got a clear path until Iron Man, and at least Superhero Movie hit $20. But we’re in the Dead Zone. And we don’t have a Christopher Walken or a Anthony Micheal Hall. But we don’t need another hero. And we don’t need to find the way home.