Screenhead

That wooshing you hear is the sound of everything Frank Miller ever drew getting fast tracked. (Coming soon: Frank Miller’s Cocktail Napkin Scribble!)

Warner’s adaptation of Miller’s graphic novel 300 earned a stunning $70 million over the weekend. $70 million. In March. That number would be spectacular during the summer, but during the early spring, it’s enough to make studio execs foam at the mouth. By comparison, Spider-Man, the highest-grossing comic adaptation ever, earned $114 million in its opening weekend in 2002, and Spidey is one of the best-known fictional characters the world over.

How 300 achieved this will likely be a topic amongst studio marketing heads for a good, long while. Nearly all factors pointed away from a hit:

• The original comic is not a widely-known (i.e., superhero) property.
• Almost without exception, historical epics have choked lately. (See Alexander, Troy, Kingdom of Heaven, et al.)
• Hyperstylized, FX-heavy films have underperformed (Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow, League of Extraordinary Gentlemen, Van Helsing, and so on).
• It had no stars to speak of
• I repeat: No stars whatsoever.

Why did it succeed? Warner’s omnipresent advertising and the film’s Nike commercial-esque look played a big part. That it was backed by a well-done, action-packed picture probably didn’t hurt either. But even that doesn’t always deliver an audience (see: Children of Men). 300 is – unfortunately for studio executives everywhere – lightning in a bottle. They can greenlight all the CGI-laden sword-and-sandal epics they want, but it’s no guarantee of any success.

What they should (and probably will) do is give Zack Snyder a pile of money to do whatever he wants. Unfortunately, that will probably be another comic book adaptation, Watchmen, which now looks to be a surer bet than ever. But where 300 is a lean, high-velocity 88-pages, Watchmen is a densely packed 400 with a massive cast, extensive backstory, subtle symbolism, and surreal, satirical touches like Nixon’s reelection. Even at three hours, it would be a Cliffs Notes version at best. Snyder would be better-suited to adapting Miller’s Ronin instead, but Darren Aronofsky has already called dibs on that one.

Moving on to the rest of the chart, Disney’s Wild Hogs continues to perform at the box office, adding $27.6 million to its total, causing critics (myself included) to wonder if audiences are perhaps seeing a different, better movie with the same name. The one-two punch of Hogs and Ghost Rider (which came in at number 4 this week, with an additional $6.6 million) will surely be interpreted as sign that the biker demographic is in dire need of attention, but more likely the weather was lousy and people needed something to do.

Rounding out the top five are Bridge to Terabithia and Zodiac, two films that couldn’t have less to do with one another if they tried. And that extends beyond plot: Terabithia continues to quietly making a respectable pile of money, racking up almost $67 million, while Zodiac has its fingers crossed for a big splash in the serial killer DVD market.

The full chart for March 9-11:

1. 300: $70.8 million
2. Wild Hogs: $27.6 million
3. Bridge to Terabithia: $6.7 million
4. Ghost Rider: $6.67 million
5. Zodiac: $6.64 million

Stay tuned next week, when we see if Chris Rock can take out Sandra Bullock… One can certainly hope.

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