V for Vendetta successfully held off all competition to take V's lofty goals right to the top of the box office charts. It's $25 million plus take makes it the 4th biggest opener of the year. Its opening take includes nearly $1.5 million from IMAX locations around the country. This is the first major release to get an IMAX version this year, and the first since last year's Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. It did meet the studio expectations despite competition from the NCAA tournament and St. Patrick's Day.
The anti-fascist thriller has received generally good reviews, and if word of mouth kicks in, this could have a good run in theaters. This was originally slated to bow on the big screen last Fall to coincide with the 5th of November theme. I have read a couple of reasons for the delay, one being post production delays and the other being the subway bombing in England last year. Whatever the case may be, this is an excellent movie that has a way of stirring up thoughts about the world at large, while being wrapped up in a satisfying film.
The other major wide release, She's the Man, came in 4th. It is a teen comedy that takes its cues from Shakespeare's The Twelfth Night. The relationship is purely cosmetic, but it is there. The movie turned out to be more entertaining than it should have been, nothing revolutionary, but fun nonetheless.
There was one other national release but it failed to make much of a splash. Find Me Guilty came in 18th place, just crossing the $600K mark on 439 screens. The film is actually quite good, it stars Vin Diesel as "Jacky D" Dinoscio. It is the story of his trial, where the FBI wanted him to flip on the Luchese crime family.
Disney had a good weekend as The Shaggy Dog suffered a very small drop from last week. On top of that, Eight Below is still going strong in its 5th week of release. It has had rather minor drops each week, and is looking at a final tally north of $80 million.
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