Editorials > "Kingdom" and "Sarah Marshall" Break Box Office Losing Streak

The weekly box office returns for 2008 have been consistently less than their 2007 parallels, with few exceptions. But this weekend saw a 9.1% increase in business over the same frame from last year. So hooray for Hollywood; no powerful executives need go hungry this week.

Jet Li-Jackie Chan team-up actioner "The Forbidden Kingdom" placed first, raking in $20.9 million, while producer Judd Apatow's "Forgetting Sarah Marshall" earned a decent $17.3 million. "Kingdom" likely benefited from its PG-13 rating and major international stars, while "Sarah Marshall" suffered from an R rating and a cast nearly devoid of household names. Both films received mostly positive reviews.

As Variety points out, "Sarah Marshall" is something of a mixed blessing for Apatow. It opened to less money than his major summer hits "Knocked Up" and "Superbad" as well as his 2005 break-out "The 40-Year-Old Virgin." But it has also been something of a rebound from semi-flops "Drillbit Taylor" and "Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story."

The Al Pacino-starring thriller "88 Minutes," derided as much for its plot holes as for its leading man's distracting hairstyle (perhaps too much, in my opinion) made a meager $6.8 million and came in fourth place behind horror holdover "Prom Night" ($9.1 million).

5. "Nim's Island" - $5.65m
6. "21" - $5.5m
7. "Street Kings" - $4m
8. "Horton Hears a Who!" - $3.5m
9. "Expelled: No Intelligence Allowed" - $3.15m
10. "Leatherheads" - $3.02m

-David Morgan