The battle epic 300 took the No. 1 box-office spot for the second straight weekend with $31.2 million (all figures U.S.), according to studio estimates Sunday.
The made-in-Montreal movie, the story of vastly outnumbered Spartans defending against Persian invaders, shot past the $100-million mark after just a week in theatres, bringing its total to $127.5 million at theatres in the United States and Canada.
Disney's road comedy Wild Hogs also crossed the $100-million mark, remaining the No. 2 movie with $18.8 million to lift its total to $104 million.
The paranormal thriller Premonition, starring Sandra Bullock as a woman whose husband is killed one day but turns up alive and well the next, debuted in third place with $18 million.
The weekend's two other new wide releases had modest openings. The made-in-Toronto fright flick Dead Silence - the tale of a maniacal ventriloquist dummy, from director James Wan and screenwriter Leigh Whannell, the team behind the original Saw horror hit - debuted at No. 4 with $7.8 million.
Fox Searchlight's I Think I Love My Wife, a romance starring Chris Rock as a bored hubby drawn to a temptress (Kerry Washington), premiered in fifth place with $5.7 million. Rock also co-wrote and directed the movie.
In limited release, the Irish historical drama The Wind That Shakes the Barley opened solidly over St. Patrick's Day weekend with $75,311 in nine theatres. The top prize winner at last spring's Cannes Film Festival, the movie is directed by Ken Loach and stars Cillian Murphy in the story of two brothers on opposite sides of Ireland's battle for independence from Britain.
Bad weather on the East Coast and the NCAA basketball tournament, combined with traditional partying on St. Patrick's Day, put a bit of a damper on the box office, particularly among young males who are the main audience for 300.
In Boston, with its heavy Irish-American population, crowds for 300 were down 70 per cent on St. Patrick's Day compared to the previous Saturday, while the drop in the rest of the country was just 49 per cent, said Dan Fellman, head of distribution for Warner Bros.
Even so, the overall box office rose, with the top 12 movies taking in $102.4 million, up 10.5 per cent from the same weekend last year.
Movie attendance this year is up 3.5 per cent compared with 2006 admissions, with hits such as 300 and Wild Hogs giving Hollywood an early start on what is expected to be a huge summer season. Among summer's blockbuster sequels are Shrek the Third, Spider-Man 3, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End and Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix.
"300 and the other late-spring hits have put us in a fantastic position heading into the home stretch leading up to summer," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.
© Associated Press 2007
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