Jumper Takes Top Spot
February 18, 2008

The Hayden Christensen - Doug Liman superhero flick Jumper took the top spot at the box office this weekend, bringing in an estimated $31.7 million over the four-day President's Day weekend with an impressive $9,247 per screen. The Fox flick opened on Thursday and has made $38.3 million in its first five days. The opening was decent but the critically derided film fell far below last year's 4-day weekend champ, Ghost Rider, which holds the record for the holiday with $52 million in its first frame. Jumper even fell below 50 First Dates, Daredevil, and Constantine for the fifth biggest President's Day weekend opening. The weekend provided stiff competition with three other wide releases competing for Jumper dollars and all making over $10 million this weekend. It was a BIG weekend at the box office.

The Spiderwick Chronicles from Paramount claimed the second spot with $24.5 million over the holiday weekend and $26.8 million to date since its opening on Valentine's Day. The fantasy flick cost $90 million to make, according to Box Office Mojo, which will be a hard number to get to domestically but it should have good legs overseas and on the home market. Step Up 2 the Streets barely missed the number two spot, claiming third with $21.5 million and actually claiming a higher five-day total than The Spiderwick Chronicles with $28.1 million to date. It seems like it was easier for the Step Up 2 audience to skip school on Friday than the kids interested in Spiderwick.

The final widely released new film of the weekend was Definitely, Maybe with Ryan Reynolds and Isla Fisher, which brought in a pretty disappointing $11.4 million and $14.5 million since its Valentine's Day opening. It may not have been smash numbers, but Definitely, Maybe did have a healthy $5,175 per screen average and should have strong word-of-mouth. The opening nearly matched Ryan Reynolds' flick from this time last year, Smokin' Aces. George A. Romero's Diary of the Dead had a stronger per screen ($6,547) but was ridiculously only released on 42 screens by The Weinstein Company, leaving it to 30th place with only $275,000 in its first frame.

Fool's Gold benefited from opening the week before Valentine's Day, falling only 30%, which is not bad for such a critically loathed movie. It even beat Definitely, Maybe and made $15 million in its second frame with $44 million total in its first eleven days. It's another hit for Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson.

The rest of the top ten were filled out by Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins ($10.4 million and $30.7 million to date), Juno ($5.5 million; $125 million), The Bucket List ($4.6 million; $81.6 million), Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour ($3.9 million; $59 million), and 27 Dresses ($3.8 million; $70.6 million).

Next weekend sees the wide release of only one major new film, Vantage Point, which will open on over 3,000 screens and likely take the top spot. Witless Protection, Charlie Bartlett, Be Kind Rewind, and The Signal all open in much more limited release.