Weekend Box Office: Prom Queen

Which was the better part of Prom Night–watching a murderous psychopath on the loose or critiquing the gowns?

You shouldn’t be surprised to find out that the remake of the 1980 Jamie Lee Curtis scream-fest Prom Night took the number one spot at the box office this weekend, taking in $22.7 million. Although horror movies haven’t lately been the slam dunk they were a few years ago–witness last weekend’s clunker, The Ruins–this one had a little more going for it, including at least one recognizable name in it, Brittany Snow, and the prom theme at the right time of year. For teenage girls who grew up loving slasher movies, and are in the throes of anxiety about dresses and prom-related stuff, what better way to relieve the tension than to get your friends together and go see a movie that takes apart the whole happy prom myth? According to Variety, the audience skewed female and young–after seeing this movie, any prom you might attend where you come out alive, is already a success.

Going in the other direction was the James Ellroy-based, bad cop drama, Street Kings, which had a 56% male/55% under 55 audience. The Keanu Reeves starrer earned $12 million. Steady performer 21 was in third place with $11 million.

Nim’s Island and Leatherheads duelled for fourth and fifth place, just like they fought over second last week. Nim’s won again with $9 million and Leatherheads sunk to fifth with $6.2 million. The scary part is that I had thought Leatherheads would be even worse this week.

The seemingly endlessly advertised Smart People only could make it to seventh place, with $4.2 million at 1,016 locations. Silly Miramax didn’t help its case with the title on the lukewarm-reviewed family drama/romantic comedy–Americans don’t want to watch smart people!

Smart People’s college professor, Dennis Quaid, apparently didn’t have the attractions of Richard Jenkins, the college professor main character in The Visitor; at four theaters, it earned a total of $88,383 for a $22,096 per screen average. Good reviews do mean something, for the little quiet pictures, at least.

Box office is still off last year’s pace, with no breakout hits yet. That should change next week with the already-glowingly reviewed Forgetting Sarah Marshall.