New at BOP: Review: Matrix Resurrections Movie Review: Moonfall Movie Reviews: Scream The #1 Movie in America November Forecast The Many Saints of Newark October Forecast New Trivia Question All site updates Share & Save   Tweet Print this column

Underworld: Rise of the Lycans

The third entry in the Underworld series comes in easily on top of the box office in Friday with $7.9 million. The previous sequel, Underworld: Evolution, opened around this time two years ago to the tune of $10.2 million so this is a bit of a step back. A 2.62 weekend multiplier is what Evolution earned on its way to a $26.8 million weekend back in 2006 and there's no reason that Rise of the Lycans won't have something similar. Sequels do make my job so much easier. A 2.6 multiplier for the Rhona Mitra-led film gives it $20.5 million for the weekend.

Slumdog Millionaire

It's poked its head in the lower rungs of the top ten a handful of times, but boosted by ten Academy Award nominations and an expansion to 1,411 theaters, Danny Boyle's Slumdog Millionaire leaps 71% from last Friday to place fifth with $2.7 million. Did you know it's already made $44 million in limited release to this point? It's now a lock for $100 million especially if it picks up anything at the awards ceremony (I like it to win Best Picture). A weekend of $8.3 million should lead to even further expansion in the next couple of weeks.

Inkheart

Inkheart gets thrown to the wolves this weekend with a mere $2 million on Friday. It couldn't even beat the second weekend of Hotel For Dogs (down 43% to $2.5 million) so that's exceptionally bad news. The fortunes might improve a bit over the rest of the weekend, but even eight-year-olds know they just saw this movie and it was called Bedtime Stories. Give it $6.1 million for the weekend.

Notable Holdovers

Paul Blart: Mall Cop holds somewhat better than expected, down 43% from last Friday to $5.6 million. The surprise Kevin James hit looks to have another solid weekend with $17.5 million.

Notorious takes one of the larger declines we've seen in some time, plunging 79% from last Friday to $1.8 million. This one will come and go as quickly as Biggie himself, with a weekend of $5 million.

In the good news department, boosted by a ridiculous number of Oscar nominations, The Curious Case of Benjamin Button clings to a top ten spot with an increase of 7% from last Friday. It's already got $107 million in the bank so most people who want to see it already have so this is its last hurrah. Give it $5.4 million.

Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
Projected Rank	Film	Estimated Gross
1	Underworld: Rise of the Lycans	20.5
2	Paul Blart: Mall Cop	17.5
3	Gran Torino	14.2
4	Hotel for Dogs	9.1
5	My Bloody Valentine 3-D	8.6
6	Slumdog Millionaire	8.3
7	Bride Wars	6.5
8	Inkheart	6.1
9	The Curious Case of Benjamin Button	5.4
10	Notorious	5.0