Speed Racer Crashes at Box Office
May 12, 2008

Speed Racer failed to live up to even its low tracking, failing to even beat What Happens in Vegas, even though early estimates had incorrectly put it in second place. No, the critically smashed Wachowski Brothers film finished third when final numbers were released today with only $18.6 million and a pathetic $5,147 per screen. With its reported $120 million budget, the film is one of the biggest bombs in years.

When it was announced, most assumed that Speed Racer would take at least second place to the second frame of Iron Man, but What Happens in Vegas claimed that spot with $20.2 million and $6,274 per screen on only a $35 million budget. The Cameron Diaz and Ashton Kutcher romantic comedy, which, to be fair, was just as critically reviled as Speed Racer, opened on 400 less screens but still went faster than Speed at the box office. In other opening movie news, David Mamet's Redbelt expanded into major cities and found practically no audience at all, averaging only a dismal $734 per screen for a total of $1 million, not even good enough to crack the top ten.

But no one could come close to catching Iron Man, the biggest hit of 2008 to date. The film fell only 48% for a second frame of $51.2 million and an amazing $177.8 million to date. The Robert Downey Jr. movie has made an unbelievable $342.8 million worldwide. The other holdover from last week, Made of Honor, fell a reasonably good 45% for $8.1 million in its second frame and $26.8 million after ten days. Made of Honor is certainly not a big hit but considering its reported $40 million budget and the fact that its biggest star is Patrick Dempsey, nearly $27 million after ten days isn't half-bad.

In the rest of the top ten, Forgetting Sarah Marshall actually notched the lowest percentage change from week-to-week, falling only 36.7% for a frame of $3.8 million and $50.8 million to date. That was good enough for sixth place, one spot after Baby Mama, which made $6.2 million this weekend and $40.8 million in its three weekends in release. Harold and Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay finished in 7th place with $3.1 million and $30.7 million to date, followed by The Forbidden Kingdom with $2.2 million and $48.5 million, Nim's Island with $1.5 million and $44.4 million, and Prom Night with $1 million and $42.8 million.

Next week, you can bet the farm that The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian will take the top spot from Tony Stark and Iron Man, but it will be interesting to see by how much and how drastically Speed Racer falls when another movie for young adults hits the market.