Warner Bros. saw a decent return on their oh-so-risky move of spending $150 million on a tentpole superhero film based on a famous graphic novel, their “Watchmen” debuting at number one with a $55.2 million take. Most guessed the heavily promoted event would score $60-$70, so if actuals are lower, WB has gotta hope this thing has legs- with the ad budget and the embarrassing FOX lawsuit guaranteeing them a profit share, they needed “Watchmen” to be a zeitgeist starter, but its likely the gloom and doom didn’t match with the country’s pathetic recession-fueled need for “escapism.” If the thing can’t top next weekend’s “Race To Witch Mountain,” WB has a financial sinkhole on their hands and can only hope to score on its “Bigger Blue Dick Director’s Cut”.
“Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail” fell to #2 with $8.8 million, collecting $76.5 million over three weekends, easily Perry’s best all-time take. With little movement in the top ten, a couple of staltwarts had a chance to make a dent, “Taken” remaining steady at #3 ($7.5 million), “Slumdog Millionaire” at #4 ($6.9 million) and, stunningly, “Paul Blart: Mall Cop” somehow sneaking back into the top five with $4.2 million. With no other new releases, “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience” took the biggest drop, losing 77.7% of its audience to fall to #9 with a $2.8 million take, suggesting that tween concert films probably aren’t the profitable subgenre that the “Hannah Montana” monster suggested.
1. “Watchmen”- $55.2 million
2. “Tyler Perry’s Madea Goes To Jail”- $8.8 million
3. “Taken”- $7.5 million
4. “Slumdog Millionaire”- $6.9 million
5. “Paul Blart: Mall Cop”- $4.2 million
6. “He’s Just not That Into You”- $4 million
7. “Coraline”- $3.3 million
8. “Confessions Of A Shopaholic”- $3.1 million
9. “Jonas Brothers: The 3D Concert Experience”- $2.8 million
10. “Fired Up”- 2.6 million
*Box-Office mojo updated the “Watchmen” haul, it was actually $55.2 million, not $55.7 million as previously reported.