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"Meet the Spartans," a parody of the ancient Greek warriors
lionized in last year's hit "300," topped the North American
weekend box office with $18.7 million, emerging victorious over
the return of Sylvester Stallone's signature action hero. "I think everyone expected 'Rambo' to be No. 1," said Paul
Dergarabedian, president of Media by Numbers that compiles box
office projections. "There are definitely a lot of serious films out there now
but there was a big enough audience looking to have silly,
mindless fun at movie theaters," Dergarabedian said. Over the same weekend last year, another parody from News
Corp-owned Twentieth Century Fox, "Epic Movie," led the box
office with an almost identical haul to "Meet the Spartans." "Fox has sort of perfected the art of the spoof movie
released at this time," Dergarabedian said. According to estimates for the United States and Canada
issued on Sunday, "Rambo," a joint release from Lionsgate and
The Weinstein Company, debuted at No. 2 with $18.2 million,
while last week's box office champ, rampaging-monster flick
"Cloverfield," fell to No. 4 with a take of $12.7 million. Paramount's "Cloverfield" was expected to lose some of its
punch since a strong word-of-mouth marketing campaign was
expected to have motivated many viewers to see it on its
opening weekend. Another new entrant was Sony's cyber-thriller
"Untraceable," which opened at No. 5 with $11.2 million. Critically acclaimed "There Will Be Blood" jumped into the
top 10 for the first time, earning the eighth spot with $4.9
million after Paramount Vantage expanded the number of theaters
to nearly 900. Starring Daniel Day-Lewis as a ruthless Texas oilman,
"There Will Be Blood" had a low-key debut late last year but
has gathered steam after it got eight Oscar nominations. "These are great results, it's No. 8 in the marketplace
with a limited release. We're just seeing a sort of wonderful
response across the country," said Rob Schulze of Paramount
Vantage. "Spartans" was one of five films in the top 10 that played
for laughs. Romantic comedy "27 Dresses," also from Twentieth
Century Fox, fell one spot to No. 3 with $13.6 million while
oops-I'm-pregnant film "Juno" from Fox Searchlight dropped two
spots to No. 6 with $10.3 million, putting it over the $100
million mark since its Christmas release. "The Bucket List," a widely panned comedy from Warner Bros
pairing Jack Nicholson and Morgan Freeman as adventure-seeking
cancer patients, was No. 7 with $10.2 million while female
heist movie "Mad Money" came in at No. 10 with $4.6 million.
"Mad Money" was the debut release of Overture Films, a unit of
Liberty Media Corp.'s cable TV operator Starz LLC. Disney's "National Treasure: Book of Secrets" dug up a
little more box office gold, with its $4.7 million making it
good enough for No. 9. The Nicholas Cage adventure has raked in
$205.4 million since its December release. (Editing by Cynthia Osterman) |
It turns out that Rambo is no
match for a bunch of silly Spartans. 
