"Cloverfield" Crushes Box Office Competitors

by Jarrett Martineau | January 19, 2008 at 04:01 pm

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After some speculation that the much blogged and buzzed about JJ Abrams monster movie 'Cloverfield' might tank on a scale not seen since those snakes found their way onto a plane, the film has roared into theatres with a huge first day box office take. With a production budget of only $25 million, Cloverfield is set finish out the American MLK holiday weekend with a hefty profit.

The low-budget monster movie "Cloverfield" destroyed the competition, including fellow rookie "27 Dresses," during its first day of release in North American theaters, according to preliminary sales estimates issued on Saturday.

"Cloverfield" earned $16.75 million on Friday, while the romantic comedy "27 Dresses" opened to $7.7 million, said their respective distributors, Paramount Pictures and 20th Century Fox.

Industry observers had expected a tight race between the films, with male youngsters rushing to see New York get wiped out in "Cloverfield" and women lining up to follow Katherine Heigl's romantic travails in "27 Dresses."

Paramount had tried to downplay expectations for "Cloverfield" by sending out word earlier in the week that "27 Dresses" would likely open slightly higher.

Now, "Cloverfield" is on track to set a record for the Martin Luther King holiday weekend. A Paramount spokesman said on Saturday that the studio expects the film to earn $46.75 million for the four-day period -- double its earlier forecast. The current holiday record-holder is "Black Hawk Down" with four-day sales of $33.6 million in 2002.