ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Baby Mama Delivers a #1

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Baby Mama Delivers a #1

Meanwhile, Harold and Kumar inhale $15 million worth of tickets.

by Sujit Chawla | April 27, 2008

The females beat the males this week as Baby Mama outdueled Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay for the top spot at the box office in this, the final weekend before the summer movie season kicks off.

Former SNL Weekend Update co-anchors, and current BFF's, Tina Fey and Amy Poehler's Baby Mama found its way to top of the charts this weekend, taking in an estimated $18.2M. The female buddy comedy about Poehler becoming a surrogate mother for Fey, averaged a strong $7,184 per screen for Universal.

Landing in second place was the male buddy comedy Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay, which smoked up an estimated $14.5M this weekend, in one of the last releases for New Line Cinema. In 2004, Harold & Kumar Go To White Castle opened with a disappointing $5.5M on its way to a $18.2M final gross. Its sequel, after 4 years of gaining a cult following, nearly hit that amount in its first weekend.

Third and fourth places went to last weekend's numbers one and two. In third was the battle of the martial arts experts, The Forbidden Kingdom. Falling 47.5% from last weekend, the Lionsgate film brought in $11.2M, according to estimates, bringing its total to $38.3. Look for a final gross in the $55M range. Fourth place went to another Universal comedy, Forgetting Sarah Marshall, which slipped 38% to $11M, according to estimates, bringing its cume to $35.1M. Look for a final gross in the same $55M range.

Fox and Sony controlled the rest of the top 10, with three titles each. In fifth place for a second consecutive weekend was the family adventure Nim's Island, which had the best hold in the top 10, dipping only 20% for an estimated $4.5M this weekend. Its cume now stands at $39M after four weeks.

Sony's triumverate of films landed in the six to eight spots. Leading off was the PG-13 horror film Prom Night, which fell 49% from last weekend to an estimated $4.4M, bringing its cume to $38.1M. In seventh was the surprisingly strong 21 which fell only 27.5% this weekend, taking in an additional $4M in chips, according to estimates. Its total now stands at a very solid $75.8M. Crashing and burning into eighth was 88 Minutes . The Al Pacino-led thriller fell 48% from last weekend's debut to an estimated $3.6M. Its total stands at $12.6M with not much more left in the bucket. Look for a final gross in the $15M range.

Spending a seventh week in the top 10, and landing at number nine was the Fox animated hit Horton Hears a Who, which took in $2.4M according to estimates, falling 31% from last weekend. Its cume now stands at a towering $147.9M. However its reign as the top grossing film of 2008 will come to an end very shortly. And rounding out the top ten was Fox stablemate Deception which landed with a thud and earned an estimated $2.1M this weekend, for a per theater average of a dismal $1,114. Look for a quick trip to the DVD aisles for this one.

The top ten films grossed $76.2M which was up 34% from last year when Disturbia took its third trip to number one with $9M; and down 11% from 2006 when RV debuted in the top spot with $16.4M.

(1-20 of 23 posts) | Reply

jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 01:59 PM

I saw Haold and Kumar 2, it was really funny- but I still like the 1st one more.

(Reply to this)

tomwaitsjr writes:
on Apr 27 2008 02:02 PM

1st H and K much much better.

I'm not castrated, so I don't plan on ever seeing Baby Mama. . .

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CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Apr 27 2008 02:35 PM

this is a dark and sad weekend in the history of comedy. How in

the hell does someone throw away ten bucks to see amy poehler? god, almighty

what's happen' people? Well, thank god there is a great movie coming friday.

can't wait to watch Iron Man and watch Farveau's greatness spray the movie

theaters clean from that awful tina fey stench. and still, no one has given

me a funny memory produced by amy poehler...

(Reply to this)

rockclmbr6 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 03:23 PM

Eh, Baby Mama was forgettable but I did think it was pretty funny. It probably would have been much better if Tina Fey had written it, but as it stands it was just ok.

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Destroyer318 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 03:54 PM

Harold and Kumar was funny, first was better. Baby mama looks like it sucks.
iron man isn't getting great reviews, but i'll see it anyway. It'll probably reach high 80's for opening weekend.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 05:03 PM

I cant wait til we finnaly get a great box office opening with a good movie next week "IRON MAN!", I just got my tickets for thursdat 8 o'clock showings. Im mostly curius on what the box office predictions for SPEED RACER will be? I know im definately gonna go SPEED RACER on opening day, it could go critical and box office success. I think it will be good. INDIANA JONES is still going to be the best movie of the summer and with the most money im sure.

(Reply to this)

solid220 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 06:00 PM

I like how u say Baby Mama sucked and Harold and Kumar was good when Baby Mama is fresh compared to Harold and Kumar's rotten rating. It just shows how many girls are on this site.

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kooks25 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 06:57 PM

In reply to this comment (#1707630)
haha..

i totally agree with you

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knowingtoast85 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 06:59 PM

I haven't seen "Baby Mama," but I did see an early screening of "Harold and Kumar," and holy God did I find it awful. I laughed exactly once, at a certain haircut during a certain flashback (I think that's spoiler-free). All the Rob Corddry stuff was soul-crushingly unfunny to me. Nothing worked.

I felt that "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" was eons better, and even then it's nothing really special from the Apatow camp.

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jokerboy1991 writes:
on Apr 27 2008 07:08 PM

In reply to this comment (#1707880)
If Rob Corddry was the guy who played the federal agent, then what r u talkn about?- he was so funny while cruel at the same time.

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marktime writes:
on Apr 27 2008 07:44 PM

couch tomatoe, what do you have against Tina Fey? Have yo watched 30 Rock? It's hilarious. Blurg!!!

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Mr. Cartmenez writes:
on Apr 27 2008 08:21 PM

HK2 might not have been as good as the first, but you have to remember the first is probably the best written stoner comedy ever.

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smartmoviekid writes:
on Apr 27 2008 08:25 PM

wow someone really hates Amy phoeler to the brink of assassination. anyway.. i, for one, felt that Harold and Kumar 2 was actually better than 1. its comedic situations were more outrageous and therefore, more hilarious. it does have more that it's fair share of racism, but hey, thats the point, right?

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sirbennet writes:
on Apr 27 2008 08:56 PM

In reply to this comment (#1707989)
Okay, I love tina and amy as much as the next comedy lover, but I am so biased and angry at rottentomatoes.com at the moment, I was prepared to unleash on you people. However, after reading the story, I'm not too pissed...

The reason I was PREPARED to be pissed, however, was because of your response to the Rambo opening weekend. Meet the Spartans beat it by less than a million, and you guys reacted like Rambo was beaten, end of story. Luckily, your opinion of Harold and Kumar is more forgiving, and rightfully so.

Rambo, in the long run, caught up with and ultimately kicked the butt of meet the Spartans. And, as much as I love tina and amy, I believe the same may be true of Harold and Kumar in this case. The H and K movie was way better than the average critic gave it credit for--critics need to develop a sense of humor!

Anyways, thanks Rotten Tomatoes for being less critical of Harold and Kumar than of Rambo--after all, Harold and K got beaten by several mil, and Rambo got beaten by less than a million opening weekend, so your forgiveness in this case does not go unnoticed!!!

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~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Apr 28 2008 03:42 AM

I saw Baby Mama and liked it. And I'm a guy. Tina Fey has some flat delivery here and there, but overall, she does her starring role well. Same with Amy Poehler. It was indeed forgettable, but there are worse movies to spend your money on. 88 Minutes, for example.

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dudemovies writes:
on Apr 28 2008 04:24 AM

I'm kind of upset by how much Baby Mama made because fist Fey does Mean Girls then this bothe are number 1 yet 30 Rock is one of the lowest rated shows on television. I just don't get it.

Amy Pohler is the second funniest women on SNL Kristen Wig is first IMO. I always though Maya Rudoplh and Rachel Dratch were funnier than Pohler.

I'm only 19 so I don't know the older SNL cast members I just started watched like 5 years ago

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Gimy writes:
on Apr 28 2008 05:19 AM

and comedy in this nation...takes another dip. two horrible hack comedies...make THAT much? over 10 is too much for both. did they hand out dime bags instead of popcorn? how the h3ll can you tards think either are funny? this is why Uwe Boll still has a career, idiots are going to the theater for garbage. Meet the Spartans looks like comedic gold compared to these two.

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duckmanx88 writes:
on Apr 28 2008 08:11 AM

how did it get 18 mil? i love tina and amy but it just puzzles me. i think both filmes lacked proper advertising. but congrats to them for not bombing. i still think it's sad that forgetting sarah marshall didn't do better considering it was better than superbad

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AmericanEagleJRL writes:
on Apr 28 2008 08:16 AM

In reply to this comment (#1707342)
I completely agree. I expected hilarious and what I got was kinda funny. It had a few great moments though. I wish Tina had written it. Oh well, I still love Tina and Amy. They're both hystericaly funny.

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knowingtoast85 writes:
on Apr 28 2008 08:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#1707888)
I dunno, I think you could just predict what he was going to do and it was always racism for racism's sake. In the past these guys did a lot better at tweaking those perceptions for comedy, this time around I felt they just struck out. They turned it into a shtick and hit Repeat.

And to me it's a bad sign when the movie has to be punched up by having random people say jokes off-camera, something obviously done in post-production. There were at least 10 instances of that.

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