Last week we crowned our first blockbuster of the year. This week we crown the first $100 million-earner. Surprise, surprise, they are the same movie. Ice Age: The Meltdown topped the charts for the second straight week, the first film of the year to do that. It did it in decidedly dramatic fashion, by dropping over 50% from last week and still finishing over $14 million ahead of the number 2 film. It may not be as good as I had hoped, but there is no doubt a goldmine in them there prehistoric critters.
As for the weekend's new releases, The Benchwarmers topped them all by finishing second. It finished surprisingly strong, but I think that was by default. Open a movie on enough screens and you are bound to see it make some money, just flood the market and things will happen no matter the quality. I guess the same thing could be said for Ice Age. It very nearly cracked the $20 million plateau. I guess I should come clean, I admit to actually enjoying some of this movie. I would not go so far as to call it good, but it definitely has its moments.
Dropping down from there, to third place, we have the inspirational teacher movie, Take the Lead. It is another one of those "inspired by a true story" films that are multiplying almost as badly as remakes these days. This movie has been seen before, just change the setting a little bit and you have a new movie. This plays like a combination of Mad Hot Ballroom and Dangerous Minds. As much as I wanted to show disdain, it is terribly infectious in the execution of the formula. Antonio Banderas stars as a dancer who teachers the hard luck cases at an inner city school. It does seem as the people shied away from it, but just a bit. It's not bad, but it is just like so many that have come before.
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