Weekend Box Office: Freddy Carves Up The Competition

The fact that the remake of A Nightmare on Elm Street finished first at the box office this weekend does not come as much of a surprise, despite its generally terrible reviews. Of course, it’s not all that surprising that the movie got horrid reviews, either. What would be surprising, however, is whether or not this can keep much of its box office come next weekend, with the impending release of Iron Man 2 set to annihilate the rest of the competition.

Nevertheless, the born-again Freddy film made $32.2 million this weekend, and did not face much competition, even from recent juggernaut How to Train Your Dragon, which finished with $10.8 million. Date Night, the romantic comedy starring Tina Fey and Steve Carell, continues to stick around the top of the box office, finishing the weekend with $7.6 million, which brings its total up to $73.6 million. Now that Fey and Carell have proven they can bring in audiences, maybe this will bring about another team-up, preferably with a much better script.

Oh yeah, Furry Vengeance – i.e. the death of Brendan Fraser’s career – also opened this weekend with $6.5 million. The trailers made it look like a soul-sucking, mind-melt of a movie, so if anyone actually saw this, please let us know what it was like.

Like I said before, Iron Man 2 opens up next weekend, so here’s a message to the rest of the movies out right now: thanks for playing; now please prepare for a harsh beating.

Here are the rest of the weekend’s box office estimates:

1. A Nightmare on Elm Street – $32.2 M

2. How to Train Your Dragon – $10.8 M

3. Date Night – $7.6 M

4. The Back-Up Plan – $7.24 M

5. Furry Vengeance - $6.5 M

6. The Losers – $6 M

7. Clash of the Titans – $5.98 M

8. Kick-Ass – $4.45 M

9. Death at a Funeral – $4 M

10. Oceans – $2.62 M