17 Again Wins Weekend Box Office
Yes it is getting ridiculous. It appears that Americans are a bit too financially strapped to get to the theaters as spring rolls around to actually go to real movies. Instead the tweeners and action lovers are going for an escape and taking the top slot every week. Fast and Furious was the last movie that is more of an escape than a thoughtful movie to win. Fast and Furious destroyed 17 Again at the box office for its first weekend, but 17 Again won its opener just the same.
17 Again made its money for one simple reason: Zac Efron. The current teenage heart stopper that brings the girls in droves. After paying for their fat burner they spend the rest of their money on going to see his movies to swoon.
17 Again, a high school time-warp comedy, which costars Matthew Perry and Leslie Mann, earned $24.1 million, according to studio estimates from the box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI.
Yeah…you thought the same thing I did when you saw the commercial for this movie. “Oh great another one of THESE movies. Matthew Perry sure has fallen.”
Regardless of the terrible critical reviews Zac Efron is enough of a box office draw to pull in the teenage ladies. Efron has made the box office tingle with the musical Hairspray, which co-starred Efron, opened first at $27.5 million. Last year, Efron’s High School Musical 3: Senior Year bowed with $42 million, and while 17 Again may have fallen short of that mark, it still represents an auspicious maiden voyage for Efron’s post-Disney career.
Coming in second was another Russell Crowe movie with positive reviews that co-starred Ben Affleck. Thriller, State of Play, pulled in $14.1 million. Although its final tally actually came in somewhat higher than anticipated and was an improvement over the $12.9 million opening for Crowe’s last outing, last fall’s Body of Lies. Body of Lies is a GREAT flick by the way if you haven’t seen it. Stars Crowe and Leo DiCaprio and is an anti-terroist action film. Definitely better than this 17 Again rubbish.
