As expected, "Spider-Man 3" continued to rule the box office, with $60 million in ticket sales this weekend; as expected it dropped off a sizable 60% from the week before. This is the classic summer scenario: a frontloaded event movie with no legs to speak of, and why should the studio care when it broke records the first week out and will make a killing on DVD? Expect more of the same when "Shrek the 3rd," "Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End," and "Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix" open. (Warning: Links lead to resource-hogging corporate megasites that may eat your computer and possibly your soul.) With luck, some of them might even be good.
The other new movies ducked and covered, mostly. The surprise was British zombie sequel "28 Weeks Later" (pictured above) making $10 million mostly on the strength of expectations and very favorable reviews. It's worth noting, though, that the first movie, "28 Days Later," made the same amount of money in half the theaters in 2003.
"Georgia Rule" deservedly tanked with $5.9 million, and the latest from Zach Braff, "The Ex," performed even more poorly ($1.4 million -- ouch). At $3.9 million, the Larry the Cable Guy "comedy" "Delta Farce" fell in the middle, but at least there'll be a DVD aftermarket for that -- expect to see it on sale in bait shops and truck stops in about a week. I doubt they'll be able to give "Georgia Rule" away in rehab centers.
More box office fiddling from Box Office Mojo and Leonard Klady.
