The 2008 weekend box office receipts continued to stumble, as the theaters saw their lowest attendance in nine years. Of the four new releases, there was only one clear winner, as the blackjack crime caper, "21" managed to score first place with a solid $23.7 million. Sony's marketing campaign targeted a younger crowd than the usual heist movie audience, and the numbers reflected it with the demographics showing 53 percent male and under 25 years old.
Although "Superhero Movie" managed a third place finish with $9.5 million, the spoof parody movie only did half the business of the similar genre movie "Meet the Spartans" from two months ago.
The other two new release floundered, as the war drama "Stop-Loss" pulled in just $4.5 million at 1,291 theaters. And Simon Pegg tripped with the comedy "Run, Fat Boy, Run" with a thirteenth place finish with just around $2.4 million in receipts.
Last weekend's full top 10 was as follows:
1. 21 - $23.7 M
2. Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! - $17.4 M
3. Superhero Movie - $9.5 M
4. Tyler Perry's Meet the Browns - $7.8 M
5. Drillbit Taylor - $5.8 M
6. Shutter - $5.3 M
7. 10,000 B.C. - $4.9 M
8. Stop-Loss - $4.5 M
9. College Road Trip - $3.5 M
10. The Bank Job - $2.8 M