#1 "Shrek the Third" ($122 million)
#2 "Spider-Man 3" ($28.5 million)
#3 "28 Weeks Later" ($5.2 million)
#4 "Disturbia" ($3.7 million)
#5 "Georgia Rule" ($3.5 million)
In this era of big box-office numbers week after ever-loving week, it's easy to become jaded, to rein in the hyperbole because a movie failed to break more records than a Disco Demolition Night. But let us do nothing but lavish praise on "Shrek the Third," whose fractured fairy tale put a huge dent in the weekend — even if it didn't ultimately tear up the history books.
Which isn't to say we're talking "Grindhouse" money here, folks. With $122 million, the adventurous ogre can now lay claim to the third-highest weekend gross in history, behind only "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest" and this month's "Spider-Man 3." "Shrek the Third" made about 12 percent more than "Shrek 2," and nearly three times as much as the original.
And the second film is a good model to follow. Opening at $108 million, it had, at the time, the second most successful weekend ever, behind only the original "Spider-Man." But "Shrek 2" fell very little, recording the biggest second weekend haul in history. It wound up with $441.2 million domestically, the third largest all-time gross.
If "Shrek the Third" can come anywhere close to matching that record-setting second weekend, it will be well on its way to catching "Spider-Man 3" from behind. For the second straight week, "Spidey" plummeted over 50 percent, pulling in just $28.5 million its third week in theaters. The Amazing One's foes aren't getting any weaker either, with "Shrek" and soon "Pirates" to compete against. The superhero flick is on pace to be the lowest grossing of the "Spider-Man" movies.
"28 Weeks Later," "Disturbia" and "Georgia Rule" round out this weekend's top five.
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