Weekend Box Office: 'Coach Carter' is a surprise!

[The Clown Prince]

In what is, at least in my opinion the biggest box office surprise in a while is that Coach Carter debuted in first place this weekend making a surprising $23.6 million! I know Samuel L. Jackson tends to take a lot of roles (like friggin Ben Stiller) and a bunch of them usually not winners (like Ben Stiller), but I'm glad this one turned out good for him.

Falling to second place after three weeks at number one was Meet the Fockers which brought in $19 million and has collected a $230.8 million total.

Debuting in third place was Racing Stripes making $14 million.

Also debuting this weekend was In Good Company which came in fourth place with $13.9 million!

And yet another movie debuting this weekend was Elektra which rounds out the top 5 with $12.5 million. The second Marvel movie to trip and stumble out of the gate in the last month. Blade: Trinity the movie before, and last year's The Punisher being another Marvel film to not do well.

Next weekend two new movies open up. First up is this Wednesday, Assault on Precinct 13 with Ethan Hawke, Lawrence Fishburne and John Leguizamo.

And then on Friday, the family film Are We There Yet? with Ice Cube and co-starring Jay Mohr and former SNL star Tracy Morgan.

Here are your numbers...


1) Coach Carter- $23,600,000 ($23,600,000) NEW!
2) Meet the Fockers- $19,000,000 ($230,800,000)
3) Racing Stripes- $14,030,000 ($14,030,000) NEW!
4) In Good Company- $13,900,000 ($14,400,000) NEW!
5) Elektra- $12,500,000 ($12,500,000) NEW!
6) White Noise- $12,200,000 ($41,200,000)
7) The Aviator- $4,775,000 ($49,953,059)
8) Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events- $3,965,000 ($111,043,000)
9) Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera- $3,550,000 ($26,437,000)
10) Ocean's Twelve- $2,895,000 ($119,845,000)
11) Fat Albert- $2,825,000 ($44,637,973)
12) National Treasure- $2,500,000 ($165,000,000)

The Clown Prince

[Knight]

So Elektra bombed. Im not really surprised but I know it cant be as bad as Catwoman. So it atleast deserves to make more money than that.

[Lord Dalek]

Ooof, poor Elektra. Maybe the backlash from Daredevil hurt this film.

[randomguy]

Ooof, poor Elektra. Maybe the backlash from Daredevil hurt this film.
I think that's a big part of it. Daredevil didn't do bad, really, but it seems to have taken on quite a bit of heat in retrospect, and that definitely held Elektra back. Frankly, given the dubiousness of Daredevil's success (critical and financial), I'm surprised Elektra even got made.

Still, no big surprises (at least to me) this week. I figured Elektra wouldn't do too well, and I'm reasonably content to see Coach Carter at #1. It's an inspirational sports film, and though it looks a little cliche for my tastes, I can definitely respect something like that. I'll admit that the success of Meet the Fockers has caught me somewhat off-guard (not unlike National Treasure), but whatever.

This doesn't bode well for Marvel's future projects, though. Spider-Man and X-Men aside, they seem to be having difficulty getting their properties to stick with mainstream audiences, and that's a problem. I sort of wish they'd focus less on getting as many franchises as possible out there, and more on making a select few projects really good. It's one thing to botch Elektra or Blade, as they're pretty obscure and low-key characters, but blowing something like Fantastic Four could be a very serious problem.

[Deadly Messiah]

DareDevil was a really good movie, this was just ick. Elektra was ok, but they totally screwed over everything that was established with her in DD, changed her father's actor, and the fight scenes were short. Not to mention the ending was unconclusive.

And DO NOT EVER COMPARE THIS TO CATWOMAN! Catwoman was nothing but a big pile of crap some guy and WB thought they could get away with.

Anyway, what the heck is Coach Carter? Never heard of it. Then again, judging from the post above, it being a sports movie is what kills it for me. I HATE SPORT MOVIES!

[randomguy]

Anyway, what the heck is Coach Carter? Never heard of it. Then again, judging from the post above, it being a sports movie is what kills it for me. I HATE SPORT MOVIES!
Well, it's really only a "sports movie" in the sense that something like Remember the Titans is. That is to say, sports are a part of the setting, but they're not the point of the movie, y'know?

[cross blues]

So Elektra bombed. Im not really surprised but I know it cant be as bad as Catwoman. So it atleast deserves to make more money than that. no way. if these movies that belong in the garbage make too much money, more of them will be produced.

[PaQ]

Wow, I didn't expect Coach Carter to jump out to such a nice start so quickly. It looks like an interesting movie, based on a true story, might be worth a gander. Meet the Fockers sure still has some longevity in it's legs, nearly a 20m week.

A movie I'm glad to see doing well is In Good Company, that looks like a good movie, although I doubt I'll get to see it till it's on DVD. That's just my luck with good movies.

A slightly subpar outing for Elektra, although all i've really heard before it was negativity, so I think it was doomed from the start. Although if it doesn't at least gross more than Catwoman.. something is sadly wrong.

[The Penguin]

I don't know what to do with Elektra (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=131294) being number five. I don't know that I thought it would be #1, but it just feels weird to me. :shrug:

I am pleased to see Coach Carter (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=131425) in the top spot and In Good Company (http://forums.toonzone.net/showthread.php?t=131426) doing fairly well though. They both look like good movies with a good heart.

I'm not expecting big box office, but I find myself looking forward to Assault on Precinct 13 much more than I expected I would be.

[True Noir]

This is a surprise. I was pretty positive like the few of you that "Elecktra" was going to do good. Maybe not great but better than "Coach Carter". I wonder why "Coach Carter" did good. I mean I have nothing against it. I shouldn't since I haven't seen it, but it's a surprise. I think it did well because it's an MTV movie or maybe just cause it was good at heart. Anyway, congrads to "Coach Carter" for proving us wrong.