It Was Bound to Happen, Sooner or Later

Do you remember the movie that finally knocked “Titanic” out of its record-setting stint at the top of the North American box-office, back in April of 1998? It was “Lost in Space”, a film which, in a weird way, was the anti-“Titanic”.

This week, “The Hunger Games” was punted from first place by “Think Like a Man”, which grossed $33 million in what looks like a triumph of narrowcasting, and threatens to make Steve Harvey into a box-office sensation for the first time in his career.

I mean, maybe it’s just the result of Sony’s different marketing strategies for the U.S. and Canada, but I had no idea “Think Like a Man” was opening wide enough to have an appreciable impact on the North American box office; like last year’s “Jumping the Broom”, it’s barely been promoted up here, aside from a couple of posters. Unlike “Jumping the Broom”, though, it opened pretty big.

Zac Efron’s “The Lucky One” placed second with $22.8 million; “The Hunger Games” came in third with $14.5 million. And look! There’s “Titanic”, adding another $5 million to its domestic gross — and remaining relevant — in its wildly successful 3D reissue.

I wonder if Warner is thinking about re-releasing “Lost in Space” in 3D, just to see what happens. Probably couldn’t hurt.

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