The buzz around "21" was hotter than an illusory winning streak at the tables, so even middling to lousy reviews and the movie's own bad self couldn't keep it from riding atop the box office this weekend: $24 million at 2,640 theaters. Still, it was the weakest end-of-March overall since 1999. The reason? Nothing propped "21" up other than "Horton Hears a Who!" in its third weekend. "Superhero Movie" crashed ($9.5 million at almost 3,000 theaters) and "Stop-Loss" ($4.5 million at 1,300 houses) couldn't overcome audience resistance to Iraq War-themed dramas, despite a heavy MTV promotional campaign. "Flawless" and "Priceless" -- one starring Demi Moore, the other Audrey Tautou -- did decently in small releases, but "Run Fat Boy Run" dared to dash into over 1,000 theaters and pulled in a weak $2.4 million. "Under the Same Moon," an art-house hearttugger about a Mexican kid crossing the border to be reunited with his illegal immigrant mom, actually made it into the top 10 last week and stays strong this week at #14 with almost $6,000 per theater; it opens in the Boston area this Friday.
Box Office Mojo has more numbers, as does Leonard Klady at Movie City News.
