( AP ) - Whatever happened to the $100 million hit?
Not a single 2008 film-not 27 Dresses, not Jumper, not even fast-starter Cloverfield-has crossed into nine figures.
"Everybody who [saw] Cloverfield's opening thought that would be a sure thing," Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock said Sunday. "But these films are dropping a lot more."
Much of the same is expected from 10,000 B.C.
The prehistoric action movie topped the latest weekend competition with $35.7 million, per estimates compiled Sunday by Exhibitor Relations.
"It's good. It's no blockbuster," Bock said of the debut.
Last year at this time, Ghost Rider had just jumped $100 million, with 300 and Wild Hogs closing in fast on the blockbuster mark.
So far this year, Cloverfield is the leader of the overall pack with $79.2 million, per Box Office Mojo stats.
More than half of Cloverfield's money was made during a $40 million opening weekend. After that, the monster movie barely made a peep. Bock blames heavy competition for the ever-quickening turnover.
Will Ferrell's Semi-Pro was the latest No. 1 movie to die a fast death. The comedy went from a soft $15.1 million last weekend, to an even harder to take $5.8 million this weekend-a whopping 62 percent drop in ticket sales.
The good news for Hollywood is that overall business is up a bit over last year, thanks to the steady, if unspectacular, performances by the likes of Cloverfield and 27 Dresses.
The bad news is that Bock expects the Industry's slight advantage over 2007 to be wiped out by the end of the week, at which time, as the release calendar would have it, the good news should return.
This coming Friday brings Dr Seuss' Horton Hears a Who, the movie that very likely will become 2008's first $100 million hit.
Finally.
Elsewhere:
• Busy Martin Lawrence was back in the Top 10 with the new family comedy College Road Trip (second place, $14 million). Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins enjoyed a similar debut (second place, $16.2 million) last month. • Jason Statham's new action vehicle The Bank Job (fifth place, $5.7 million) could've used a transporter to help pick up business. • The Other Boleyn Girl (seventh place, $4 million; $14.6 million overall) sank almost as fast as Semi-Pro. • The new period comedy Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day ($2.5 million), starring Frances McDormand and Amy Adams, debuted outside the Top 10. • Penelope ($2.2 million; $6.9 million overall) dropped out of the Top 10 after only one weekend. The Oscar holdovers, No Country for Old Men ($1.6 million, $72.7 million overall, per Box Office Mojo) and Juno ($2 million, $138 million overall, per Box Office Mojo), also ended their stays. • Paranoid Park, Gus Van Sant's new drama about the skateboarding world, was, pound for pound, the weekend's biggest hit, taking in $40,000 at just two theaters.
Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
• 10,000 B.C., $35.7 million
• College Road Trip, $14 million • Vantage Point, $7.5 million • Semi-Pro, $5.8 million • The Bank Job, $5.7 million • The Spiderwick Chronicles, $4.8 million • The Other Boleyn Girl, $4 million • Jumper, $3.8 million • Step Up 2: The Streets, $3 million • Fool's Gold, $2.8 million