April 6th, 2004

Heaven and Hell

A slew of new releases debuted at the box office this past weekend, and all of them did pretty decently. On tops was the Ron Perlman starrer Hellboy, based on the Dark Horse comic. With good reviews and a nice opening of 23.1 million, this could very well be a new comic book franchise if it holds up well in the coming weeks. The remake of Walking Tall starring The Rock also had a strong start with 15.5 million, but last week's champ Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed took a pretty big dive with 14.7 million. The film should be a medium-sized hit, but probably won't crack 100 million - as did its predecessor.

The last traditionally 2-D animated film from Disney, Home On The Range, opened in fourth place with 13.8 million. Time will tell if it has the legs of "Brother Bear," last fall's 2-D feature from the Mouse House which brought in an impressive 82 million. Meanwhile, nothing seems to stop The Passion Of The Christ, bringing in 10.6 million for the weekend. The film will expand next weekend to a few hundred more theaters due to the upcoming Easter holiday.

The weekend's only other new release, The Prince and Me, got off somewhat nicely with 9.4 million. But with yet another fairy tale-esque (and less realistic) film coming out next week, "Ella Enchanted," this one may not last for long. The Ladykillers took in another 7 million, while Jersey Girl slumped a bit with 5.1 million. Rounding out the top ten was Dawn Of The Dead (with another big dip of 4.5 million) and Taking Lives with 3.4 million.

Will these releases stack up next weekend, when such faire as the long-awaited "The Alamo" opens? As usual, stay tuned DVD fans.

-Zach B.