Evidently, Americans decided to start tailgating early for the Super Bowl this year, because they certainly weren’t at the movies, which suffered the worst Super Bowl weekend for box office in 15 years. It was still good news for The Roommate, though: Despite not screening for critics and not giving the poor saps who paid to see it the exploitation thrills they surely craved, the film opened at #1 with $15.6 million against a $16 million budget, enough to encourage more glossy, pointless, sanitized PG-13 thrillers featuring the starlets of the day. The James Cameron-produced underwater thriller Sanctum had a much rougher time of it, despite its reportedly top-flight 3D visuals, bowing to $9.2 million against a $30 million budget. That left presumptive Oscar favorite The King’s Speech to mop up another $8.3 million on its way to the Red Carpet, bringing it closer to the magic $100 million mark.
Not much action in limited release, though “mumblecore” fans should be encouraged by the surprisingly robust performance of Aaron Katz’s Sherlock Holmes riff Cold Weather. These things don’t cost much to make, and $15,100 on one screen is a solid first step to profitability as the film starts its tour of urban arthouses.
For more detailed numbers, visit Box Office Mojo.