Monday, 04.07.08

21 Again

Photo by Flickr acaben under a creative commons license.

The card-counting flick topped the box office for the second straight weekend, beating out George Clooney's screwball comedy Leatherheads.

Last weekend, 21 looked like a disappointment, opening to mediocre reviews and an unspectacular $24 million take. But never underestimate the benefits of facing off against weak competition. March and April are never great months at the movies, but this post-writers' strike spring is particularly lackluster, and now that George Clooney has proven yet again that he isn't quite the box office draw that his fawning press coverage suggests he is, 21 looks like it has a chance to spend three straight weeks atop the heap. (All it has to do is beat out Keanu Reeves and Prom Night next weekend.)

The movie I expected to knock 21 off its pedestal, the hungry-plant horror show The Ruins, didn't even come close, earning less than eight million dollars -- a pathetic showing, and a reminder of how hard it is to predict what audiences will jump on and what they'll ignore. Sure, The Ruins got drubbed by the critics, but so do most gruesome horror movies. Why did this one -- based on a recent bestseller and facing off against the same weak slate of rivals that have made 21 a hit -- turn out to be a big flop when similarly-themed, equally-lousy movies like Anaconda and Congo ended up finding an opening-weekend audience? If you can answer that question, there's a Hollywood studio that would like your phone number...

— Ross Douthat

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