Horton Holds At Number One
March 24, 2008

Horton continued to hear a hit as the Jim Carrey and Steve Carell animated flick Horton Hears a Who held the top spot for a second consecutive week, dropping 44% and holding off four newcomers for another $25.1 million and $86.5 million to date. According to Box Office Mojo, the film only cost $85 million to make, which means Horton Hears a Who made a profit after only ten days of domestic release. Not bad. The film is already also the number one movie of 2008 already, passing Cloverfield's $80 million total gross. Horton Hears a Who has already crossed $100 million worldwide and is clearly the biggest hit of the season.

Horton Hears a Who held off four new films, two of which killed and two that bombed. The hit was the latest success from Tyler Perry, Meet the Browns, which made an impressive $20 million in its first three days, according to estimates posted by Box Office Mojo. The film averaged $9,975 per screen, the highest in the top ten. The opening for Meet the Browns fell in the middle of the Tyler Perry filmography, doing better than Daddy's Little Girls, which opened in February of last year, but not matching the opening weekend of Madea's Family Reunion or last fall's Why Did I Get Married. The other hit was the independent Under the Same Moon, which opened on only 266 screens but made it to tenth place with $2.6 million and $9,781 per screen.

The bombs this weekend were the expected failure of Shutter with Rachael Taylor and Josh Jackson and the huge bomb that is Drillbit Taylor. Shutter opened with $10.7 million in third place and Drillbit Taylor could only muster fourth place with $10.2 million. With horrible reviews, Drillbit Taylor couldn't find an audience and proves that Judd Apatow and Owen Wilson can't always knock it out of the park. The film only averaged $3,337 per screen and was the lowest opening for a widely released Owen Wilson film since The Big Bounce in January of 2004.

The rest of the top ten were filled out by 10,000 B.C. ($8.7 million and $76.1 million to date), Never Back Down ($4.9 million and $16.8 million to date), College Road Trip ($4.6 million and $32 million to date), The Bank Job ($4.1 million and $19.4 million to date), and Vantage Point ($3.8 million and $65.3 million to date).

Four new movies will try and take down Horton Hears a Who this weekend when the spoof Superhero Movie, the dramas 21 and Stop Loss, and the comedy Run, Fatboy, Run open in theaters.