Box Office Recap: ‘Disturbia’ Stays Alive and on Top

Posted by Neil Miller (neil@filmschoolrejects.com) on April 22, 2007

Last weekend Disturbia swung in and snapped box office gold away from Blades of Glory, which had been on top for two straight weeks. This weekend it faced the challenge of 4 more new releases, all with some serious star power, and it still came out on top.

Straight from our good friends at Box Office Mojo, here are the Studio estimates from this weekend:

1. Disturbia - $13.4 million
2. Fracture (N) - $11.2 million
3. Blades of Glory - $7.8 million
4. Vacancy (N) - $7.6 million
5. Meet the Robinsons - $7 million
6. Hot Fuzz (N) - $5.8 million
7. Are We Done Yet? - $5.2 million
8. In the Land of Women (N) - $4.9 million
9. Perfect Stranger - $4.1 million
10. Wild Hogs - $2.8 million

While the big surprise the weekend is Fracture, the half-hearted cookie cutter thriller starring Ryan Gosling and Anthony Hopkins, the big win (especially for fans) is the success of Hot Fuzz. You may be asking yourself, “Wait, didn’t it only make $5.8 million?” Yes it did. On paper compared to a slue of wider releases that may not look like such a good thing, but when you take into consideration that it only played in 825 theaters (compared to 3,015 for Disturbia) then you’ve got an entirely different story on your hands. If Hot Fuzz had played on just 2,500 screens it would have brought home almost $18 million, placing it solidly at the top of the box office. Fans can only hope for the Borat effect and a very quick expansion into more theaters.

As noted above, Fracture was the major surprise this weekend, banking on Vacancy splitting Disturbia’s demographic up and Blades of Glory finally winding down. It was received well by critics (except the ones on this site) and audiences seemed to follow. Vacancy, a film that was not screened for critics fell victim to under-exposure and slid in at #4.

Overall, with one more weekend left until Spider-Man 3 releases, the climate of the box office seems to have cooled off a bit. Next weekend would be a prime time to expand a film like Hot Fuzz and to continue to promote the likes of Disturbia. From the standpoint of the studios, they should be squeezing every drop out of the box office between now and 5/3, because once Spider-Man hits, there won’t be much left.

Tags: box office, news, film, disturbia, hot fuzz

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