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Last week’s box office results were interesting. Ocean’s Thirteen easily took the top spot with $36 million. That is less than both of its predecessors made, but still a ton of money considering that Ocean’s Twelve was disappointing in the eyes of a lot of fans (even with a higher opening weekend, Ocean’s Twelve would go on to gross nearly $60 million less than Ocean’s Eleven). But clearly that didn’t effect the outlook for the third installment. Pirates 3 continued to do well bringing its total up to $253 million. Knocked Up continued its impressive early run with nearly $20 million its second weekend. The surprise for me was that Surf’s Up only made $17 million. Clearly, Sony’s recent animated films (Open Season, Monster House) haven’t been nearly as successful as Pixar’s (Cars, The Incredibles) or Dreamworks’ (Shrek the Third, Madagascar), but they have had better openings than this. Could it be from a saturation of animated films (or from the fact that there just was a penguin based cartoon Happy Feet last year)? Time will tell. And time will tell how this weekend’s Box Office goes. Also, I will tell:

1. Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer. The first Fantastic Four movie sucked, but it made $56 million its opening weekend, on its way to a total of $154 million. That is the reason why the movie is now getting a sequel despite the fact that it sucked. So the question becomes, if a lot of people saw the first (and they did judging from the Box Office total) and those people didn’t like the movie (and I haven’t met someone who did), then who is going to want to see another? The problem is that movie goers are suckers and they will still go to see it despite the problems with the first. Now, there have been some early positive reviews, and the trailers look better than the first (but still not great) so maybe it has a chance. It will do well, but not as well as the first, at least not in its opening weekend when it makes $40 million.

2. Ocean’s Thirteen. As I said above, Ocean’s Thirteen had a very good opening with $36 million. It has gotten much better reviews than Ocean’s Twelve, so it should have better staying power and a better overall fate. It will still drop from the competition, but make an impressive $20 million in week number two.

3. Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End. Despite poor reviews, Pirates 3 has done very well (maybe not as well as #2, but very well nonetheless). But it is slowing down and it lost 52% of its audience from week 2 to week 3. It will likely have a similar outcome this week as it brings in $12 million.

4. Nancy Drew. This is the second movie opening in wide release this week and is certainly good counter programming to the big summer block buster action movies out there right now. It is a good choice for teen age girls and maybe families. It is based on a series of books which have been around forever and are very popular. But I don’t see it being a huge hit. It will open with $11 million.

5. Knocked Up. It has gotten very good reviews and has done very well at the Box Office ($71 million so far). It held on to a pretty large percentage of its audience which shows it should have staying power. But there is a lot of competition. It will continue to do well with $10 million.

Well, that’s it. With the strong competition, Surf’s Up only stays in the top 5 for one week which is pretty amazing. Check back next week to see how I do.