'Cloverfield' drops 68% at box office

Cloverfield took a huge hit last weekend at the boxoffice. Sadly, one of the worst movies ever made (Meet the Spartans) won Friday and Saturdays ticket sales. Rambo came in second and 27 Dresses in third. Cloverfield was right behind at 4th place. The numbers sound worse than they are. The difference between Rambo and Cloverfield was only $1.2 Million on Saturday. 27 Dresses and Cloverfield were virtually tied through the weekend.

Some doomsayers are saying this is a huge blow because Cloverfield should have won this weekend. However, as word of mouth about Cloverfield's camera work and mysterious storyline surfaced around the country some people stayed away. A few people I talked to were worried about the camera being shaky (they get motion sickness) and after I told them what it was like they decided to wait.

As it stands, the box office gross of Cloverfield is over $64 Million (U.S.) with another $15 Million overseas. Most of Europe actually opens this coming weekend so that number will go up. Technically, the movie made a profit already and no one at Paramount is complaining.

(via Variety) "Paramount's "Cloverfield" may have posted the biggest January opening of all time, but it's turning out to be more of a marketing win than a runaway crowd pleaser at the box office.

Pic plunged 68% in its second weekend at the domestic box office, putting "Cloverfield" in that category of films that rely on a huge opening weekend, akin to a much-hyped pay-per-view event.

But Par spent just $25 million to produce the movie, which has grossed $64.3 million in its first 10 days domestically, according to Rentrak. The film, still very early in its run abroad, has grossed $15 million internationally from only a few territories. Par, which likely spent as much marketing the movie as on the production budget, says the movie will easily be a financial success.

Most in Hollywood weren't surprised by "Cloverfield's" precipitous falloff. The pic, produced by J.J. Abrams and shot to resemble a homevideo, got a "C" cinema score, meaning moviegoers were lukewarm at best about what they saw."