Ancient epic "300" leads worldwide box office

Vincent Regan as Captain and Gerard Butler as Leonidas in a scene from '300' in an image courtesy of Warner Bros. Pictures. The Spartan soldiers enjoyed a one-sided victory at the North American box office for a second weekend.[Reuters]

The brave Spartan soldiers of "300" enjoyed a one-sided victory at the North American box office for a second weekend, making light work of critically lambasted new challenges from Sandra Bullock and Chris Rock.

According to studio estimates issued on Sunday, Warner Bros. Pictures' war epic sold $31.2 million worth of tickets in the three days beginning on March 16, taking its 10-day haul to $127.4 million. The Time Warner Inc.-owned studio expects the film to hit $200 million.

"300" was also No. 1 overseas, earning $15.6 million from chart-topping stands in 13 countries, mostly in Asia. The foreign total stands at $24.6 million, with Greece supplying $7 million, not surprising given the film's setting. It opens next weekend in such markets as Britain, France, Spain and Mexico.

The movie, which cost about $65 million to make, stars Scottish actor Gerard Butler as the king of the Spartans who leads 300 of his men to a glorious death against the Persians at the Battle of Thermopylae.

Bullock recorded the best opening of her career with the psychological thriller "Premonition," which opened at No. 3 with a better-than-expected $18 million.

The actress plays a woman whose husband keeps dying and mysteriously reappearing. The film's distributor, Columbia Pictures, had hoped the $20 million movie would open in the mid-teens. Women comprised two-thirds of the audience, and 61 percent of viewers were aged 25 and older, said the Sony Corp.-owned studio.

"HOGS" HITS CENTURY

Just ahead of "Premonition" was former chart-topper "Wild Hogs" with $18 million in its third week; the total for Walt Disney Co.'s John Travolta- Tim Allen road comedy rose to $104 million.

New at No. 4 was the ghost story "Dead Silence" with $7.8 million, in line with the modest expectations of its distributor, Universal Pictures. The action revolves around a homicidal ventriloquist's dummy. Exit polls indicated almost three-quarters of the female-skewing audience was aged under 25, and that viewers were less-than-enthused by the movie, said the General Electric Co.-controlled studio.

Critics mauled all three new entries, but moviegoers followed their lead only on Rock's romantic comedy-drama "I Think I Love My Wife," which came in at No. 5 with $5.7 million. Rock, who also directed, plays a family man who starts questioning his marriage vows.

The film's distributor, Fox Searchlight, said pre-release forecasts had indicated the movie could earn about $12 million in its first weekend. A spokeswoman for the News Corp.-owned studio was unable to suggest why it failed.

The studio is doing better in the art-house arena with Indian director Mira Nair's cross-cultural romance "The Namesake" which has earned $1 million from just 41 theaters after two weeks.

So far this year, "Wild Hogs," Sony's "Ghost Rider" and "Norbit," have opened at No. 1 despite critical lashings, while "300" fared a bit better but got roasted by some high-profile reviewers.

The Nicolas Cage comic-book adaptation "Ghost Rider" (No. 7) and the Eddie Murphy comedy "Norbit" (No. 9) have totaled $110 million after five weeks, and $92 million after six weeks, respectively. "Ghost Rider" has also earned $87.5 million overseas, Sony said. "Norbit" was released by Paramount Pictures, a unit of Viacom Inc.