Snakes On A Plane tops US box office - just!
Story by Jack Foley
SLIPPERY thriller Snakes On A Plane slithered its way to the top of the North American box office during its opening weekend but the film’s modest takings of $15.3m (£8.1m) failed to match expectation based on hype.
Indeed, the Samuel L Jackson thriller only took marginally more that Will Ferrell comedy Talladega Nights, which slipped to second after three weeks of release.
Snakes On A Plane was expected to perform much better in the wake of the hype that preceded its release. It cost $30m to make and was released simultaneously in the US and UK without being shown to critics.
Much of the reasoning for this decision was attributed to the internet campaign that had been run in support of the film by fans, who even influenced director David R Ellis’ decision to re-edit the film earlier this year to include more violent scenes.
It was decided that fans, rather than critics, should be the ones to see the film first and the buzz surrounding the film prior to its release last Friday had reached fever pitch.
But the film’s US weekend tally includes the $1.4m (£740,757) takings it delivered from preview screenings held on Thursday night, according to studio estimates.
Had those not been taken into account, Talladega Nights would still have been the top film in the US and Canada.
Oliver Stone’s 9/11 drama World Trade Center was third place with weekend takings of $10.8m (£5.7m).
But Pirates of the Caribbean sequel, Dead Man’s Chest, remains the most profitable film in the current top 10 despute dropping two places to eighth.
According to the Hollywood Reporter, the Johnny Depp movie has now made $923.8m (£488.6m) worldwide and is on course to break the $1bn barrier.
Read the critics’ views on Snakes On A Plane