By Ryan Parsons | Image property of Columbia Pictures, Variety
21
It turns out that people still do like gambling dramas after all. Though Fred said he'd never bet on 21, the film somehow beat the odds.
Box Office Report: 21
Columbia Pictures played the house this weekend by earning a respectable $23.7 million with 21. This, however, wasn't enough to compete with the same weekend in 2007. With Blades of Glory and Meet the Robinsons earning $33 million and $25.1 million respectively during the same frame last year, 21 needed its competitors to also do well.
Unfortunately for Hollywood, this wasn't the case. MGM's Superhero Movie did less than expected with an estimated $9.5 million, earning way less in its debut than the worse-looking Meet the Spartans, which opened in January to $18.5 million. Are moviegoers finally tired of parodies?
I could have warned Paramount about Stop-Loss, which followed tradition this weekend by becoming the latest casualty of (Iraqi) war. Like every Iraq-based film released in the past year, the film fired off blanks with $4.5 million.
David Schwimmer's feature directorial debut, Run Fatboy Run, also couldn't catch an audience. The film earned a mediocre $2.4 million from 1,133 screens.
Besides 21, the only other film that could remain proud of itself was Horton Hears a Who, which held the number two spot during its third frame with $17.4 million.
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