Warner Brothers' 17 Again earns a solid $24 million — the latest in a string of unlikely box-office heroes. In a world where Kevin James, Liam Neeson, Tyler Perry, Paul Rudd, Miley Cyrus and now Zac Efron rule the box office, it appears that the rules are changing in Hollywood.With a great marketing campaign and the incredible appeal of Efron to female fans everywhere, the PG-13 film opened better than expected and now adds Efron to the list of unlikely leading men who can open a picture on their own and line up the fans at the multiplex.
In second place was the Russell Crowe political drama State of Play from Universal. With $14.1 million this weekend, the film, which has appeal to older audiences looking for a sophisticated alternative, benefited from solid reviews but inevitably was unable to outpace the much more escapist-themed film at the top of the chart. Crowe, who is always great in this type of role, delivers yet another noteworthy performance that will sustain the film well with strong word-of-mouth over the next couple of weeks.
After a month in release, the animated juggernaut that is Monsters vs. Aliens lands in third. The Paramount/Dreamworks film added another $12.9 million to its already impressive earnings thus bringing its total domestic take to a whopping $162.7 million and counting.
Fourth place belongs to Hannah Montana: The Movie as the Disney film dropped from first to fourth this weekend with a 61 percent drop, $12.7 million for the weekend and a total approaching an impressive $60 million.
Rounding out the top five is Universal’s box-office speed demon Fast & Furious, which racked up an additional $12.3 million in fines and now finds itself at a mind-bending $136.7 million in domestic box office.
Debuting outside of the top five at number six is Crank 2: High Voltage from Lionsgate. The action-packed film earned $6.5 million but was in just 2,223 theaters and was unable to hammer its way into the top tier this weekend.
The fourth consecutive “up” weekend at the box office gives us a gargantuan year-to-date revenue lead of 17.34 percent over last year and an attendance increase of 15.6 percent. This gives us an incredible amount of momentum as we head into the final weekend of the spring season and portends a huge start to the summer-movie season debuting May 1.
THREE-DAY ESTIMATES:
1. NEW! 17 Again (Warner Bros.) - $24M; 3255 theaters; $7,393 PTA
2. NEW! State of Play (Universal) - $14M; 2803 theaters; $5,030 PTA
3. Monsters Vs. Aliens (Paramount) - $12.9M; 3662 theaters; $3,523 PTA; -41%; $162.7M cume
4. Hannah Montana: The Movie (Disney) - $12.6M; 3118 theaters; $4,062 PTA; -61%; $56.1M cume
5. Fast & Furious (Universal) - $12.2M; 3674 theaters; $3,345 PTA; -55%; $136.7M cume
6. NEW! Crank 2: High Voltage (Lionsgate) - $6.5M; 2223 theaters; $2,928 PTA
7. Observe and Report (Warner Bros.) - $4M; 2727 theaters; $1,487 PTA; -63%; $18.6M cume
8. Knowing (Summit) - $3.4M; 2405 theaters; $1,446 PTA; -46%; $73.6M cume
9. I Love You, Man (Paramount) - $3.3M; 2202 theaters; $1,530 PTA; -46%; $64.6M cume
10. The Haunting in Connecticut (Lionsgate) - $3.1M; 2255 theaters; $1,397 PTA; -47%; $51.9M cume
LAST WEEK'S B.O.: Hannah Montana Bonanza!
Go to our Box Office section for recent weekend movie analysis.