Here are the best-selling movies of the week. The ancient battle of Thermopylae was the stuff of 2007’s first certified blockbuster as the bloody action tale “300” debuted with ticket sales of $70 million over its opening weekend, according to studio estimates Sunday.
That’s about $233,000 for every one of the legendary 300 Spartan soldiers who fought off a much larger Persian force in the epic battle.
“On a Spartan-by-Spartan basis, that’s a lot of money,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Media By Numbers. “Summer came a little early, because this is a summer-style opening.”
If the estimate for the Warner Bros. epic holds when final numbers are released Monday, “300” would break the record for best March debut ever, topping the $68 million haul for “Ice Age: The Meltdown” last year. “300” played in 3,103 theaters, about 850 fewer than the “Ice Age” sequel, making its box office performance even more notable. It averaged $22,567 a theater, a whopping number for a wide release.
Buoyed by “300” and some solid holdovers, Hollywood business soared, with the top 12 movies totaling $139.4 million, up 49 percent from the same weekend last year.
“300” bumped off the previous weekend’s No. 1 movie, Disney’s “Wild Hogs,” which slipped to second place but held up well with $28 million, raising its total to $77.4 million.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight’s immigrant drama “The Namesake” opened strongly with $250,762 in six theaters, averaging $41,794. Centered on an Indian family’s assimilation in America, “The Namesake” expands to more theaters Friday.
%% MOVIE TICKET SALES 300 $70 Wild Hogs $28 Bridge to Terabithia $6.9 Ghost Rider $6.8 Zodiac $6.77 The Number 23 $4.33 Norbit $4.3 Music and Lyrics $3.8 Breach $2.6 Amazing Grace $2.5 Estimated sales, in millions of dollars, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Source: AP %%
