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Saturday
14Mar2009

Box Office - 'Last House' Racing 'Witch Mountain'

DateSaturday, March 14, 2009 at 11:41AM
Although it's most likely not going to win this weekend at the box office, the big winner, in terms of pound-for-pound performance, just might be The Last House on the Left. The new horror movie remake finished in second place on Friday, a little over a million dollars behind Race to Witch Mountain, according to new estimates from Box Office Mojo.

Why Last House gets the edge, though, is because of its per-screen average. The film is playing in nearly 800 fewer theaters than Witch Mountain, and if it were in the same number of theaters, it would have earned over $7 million last night.

But Witch Mountain did win Friday and should win the weekend outright. Its $6.75 million debut will likely translate into a three-day total in the mid-20s, while Last House will more likely end up in the high teens.

As for Watchmen, it all depends on Saturday. Last weekend, the Saturday numbers were off by a full 25%. We should see a more stable figure this weekend, since the Friday night numbers aren't inflated by opening day. Still, it has very little chance to repeat as number one, and if the $5.4 million it made on Friday plays out the way a standard second weekend does, Watchmen will lose maybe 60-65% of its total audience from last weekend, meaning it's done its damage. The best case scenario is that it rallies hard on Saturday and finishes with around $20 million for the weekend.

The other new release, Miss March, opened terribly, and might not make $2.5 million this weekend, meaning it might not make as much as $6 million total.