Good things come in threes
Resident Evil: Extinction kept 2007’s threequel train rolling by topping the box office with $23.7 million. That makes it the sixth threequel to top the charts this year, following in the footsteps of Spider-Man 3, Shrek the Third, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End, The Bourne Ultimatum and Rush Hour 3. Sony Screen Gems had said that this Resident would be the last of the series, but now there’s talk that another may be on the horizon. So we have that to look forward to.
The up side
Moviemakers definitely targeted the adult moviegoer (and the teen who could pass for one) this weekend as the top five moneymakers were all rated R. Who needs to make movies for kids? They don’t have any money anyway.
Bomb Squad
The Squad claims no victims this week. Of the new wide releases, Sydney White finished the lowest with $5.2 million. But even it pulled in $2,469 per screen — too high an average to truly qualify as a bomb. We’ll try again next week.
Swami Sez
Swami gets fancy and gets burned in the process.
Prediction: Resident Evil: Extinction falls just short of its predecessor but still wins the weekend at $22 million.
Result: Never has Swami been so close and still been so wrong. Extinction earned $23,678,580, about $600,000 more than 2004’s Resident Evil: Apocalypse. Note to Swami: account for inflation next time.
Prediction: Good Luck Chuck finishes second with $10 million.
Result: Correct on the finish, but $3.6 mil short on the total.
Too close to call
This weekend’s winner is the toughest to predict in weeks. On the one hand there’s The Kingdom, promising plenty of action and featuring Jamie Foxx. On the other hand, there’s The Game Plan, a movie that The Rock has tirelessly promoted to every talk show, newspaper and PTA meeting in the land.
Prediction: Normally the PG film is the one to go with in a tight race, but all those moneymaking R’s last weekend throw a wrench in that theory. Let’s go with The Kingdom at No. 1 at $21 million.
Nice guys finish second
So where does that leave The Game Plan? Not far behind.
Prediction: The Game Plan finishes a close second at $19 million.
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