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Another week gone by and another great weekend at the Box Office. There were a few surprise winners this week, including the Ed Norton suspense thriller, The Illusionist and horror remake The Wicker Man. And there were the usual suspects; Invincible reclaims the top spot for the second weekend in a row, and Little Miss Sunshine continues to dazzle audience in its young wide release.

But the story of the week would be Jason Statham’s return to Box Office glory with the action flick Crank. Raking in almost $13 million, Crank marks the 4th consecutive major release of Statham’s to clear $10 mil. on opening weekend (following in the footsteps of The Italian Job, Cellular and Transporter 2). With such a great showing on opening weekend, one can only expect a little momentum for week 2.

But before we get into that, lets tally up our results from last week’s Over/Under fiasco:

Last Week’s Bet: Will Crank score over $8 million at the Box Office?

Here are the Box Office numbers (from Box Office Mojo):

1. Invincible (review) – $15.4 million
2. Crank (review) – $12.9 million
3. The Wicker Man (review) – $11.7 million
4. Little Miss Sunshine (review) – $9.6 million
5. The Illusionist – $8.1 million

The Bids (current records):

• Neil Miller – Under (1-2)
• Brian Gibson – Over (1-0)
• Chris Beaumont – Over (1-0)
• Cole Abaius – Under (0-1)
• BobbyQuickDraw – Over (1-0)
• Matthew Alexander – Over (1-0)

Oh the humanity… As the editor of this site, I feel it necessary to attempt to redeem myself this week…

This Week’s Over/Under: Will the teen thriller The Covenant break the $8 million mark on opening weekend?

The Analysis: The Covenant should see a great deal of competition this week, coming into a box office environment with a lot of strong releases. As football season draws near, fans will still be salivating for Invincible, and action junkies can score a little Crank. The Illusionist, the surprise of last weekend, is expanding by 1,400 screens this week, so look for another solid performance. Plus all of the artsy folks will be out either seeing Hollywoodland or The Protector. That pretty much kills every demographic but one: The back to school teens. Looking for a break from the young school year, and with the weather going sour in much of the country, kids may be out in force to see The Covenant. Basically, this movie could be the reason that most of us will dread a 9 o’clock show on Saturday night… those ruffians!

My Bid: I am hesitant to do so, but I am thinking that I will take the Over on The Covenant and the $8 mil. mark this week.

Brian Gibson’s Bid: Teenyboppers are back at school and I say they will take The Covenant over $8 mil.

What do all of you think? Chime in with the Film School Rejects staff below in the comments area…