Box Office - 'Horton' Goes for $45, Doomsday for 'Doomsday'

The year's biggest opening so far belongs to the splashy Dr. Seuss adaptation, Horton Hears a Who. The $45 million opening weekend should ensure that Horton crosses the $100 million plateau in roughly three weeks, and it also means that this is one of the only "hits" of the year so far.

Looking back on 2008, you couldn't really label too many releases, even those that might have crossed into the black, as box office smashes. Perhaps only Vantage Point and Step Up 2 the Streets could be considered hits, and that's a staggering thought.

Horton made it to $45 million on widespread apathy for nearly every other movie in theaters. 10,000 BC was the only other film to raise an eyebrow this weekend, upping its total haul to $61 million with a $15 million second round. Due to a lackluster slate of releases between now and mid-April, the prehistoric epic may wind up doing fairly well for itself.

There's little hope for the new release Doomsday, however, which was the weekend's biggest loser, managing to stall at number seven. There was better news for the mixed martial arts-themed high school drama, Never Back Down, which made a respectable $9 million in 2,700 theaters.

And the movie nobody's talking about, The Other Boleyn Girl, has nearly cleared $20 million while never appearing in more than 1,200 theaters. Should Focus decide to expand its release just a tiny bit more, it could be one of the surprise hits of the spring, potentially nearing the $35 million ballpark. That's if they choose to be more aggressive with the film. Of course, Focus also has Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day in theaters, and while its box office potential isn't as good, they could use the same formula with that film instead and have two sleeper hits instead of one.