Nice to see Chan and Li kickin' Sarah Marshall's ass. Hopefully this means we'll see more collaborations between these two martial arts masters in the future.

Boxoffice for Friday, April 18

1. THE FORBIDDEN KINGDOM
(Theaters) 3,151 (Estimate) $7,550,000

2. FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL
2,798 $5,920,000

3. PROM NIGHT
2,700 $3,450,000

4. 88 MINUTES
2,168 $2,325,000

5. 21
2,903 $1,800,000

6. NIM'S ISLAND
3,277 $1,500,000

7. STREET KINGS
2469 $1,300,000

8. EXPELLED: NO INTELLIGENCE ALLOWED
1,052 $1,200,000

9. DR. SEUSS' HORTON HEARS A WHO!
2,670 $925,000

10. LEATHERHEADS
2,798 $925,000

This is the last of the lackluster release weekend until the bigger stuff comes out starting with H & K 2 and Iron Man.

I was expecting Sarah Marshall to open bigger.

Wow, how LEATHERHEADS died.

I would not say that is exactly kicking butt...

It will open somewhere in the low 20's better than most predicted however I thought it would open even larger. A paring like that should have been made a couple of years sooner and then it would have been huge.

I thinks people are starting to wain on the whole "Apatow" thing. The only movie of his I found mildly amusing was 40 Year Old Virgin.

How the hell did Forbidden Kingdom do this, I have seen almost ZERO advertising for it. I hope Forgetting Sarah Marshall does well the next few weeks, but competition is going to be pretty stiff (H&K 2 and Baby Mama next week)...and Leatherheads is dying because word got out...that movie sucks.

I really thought FSM would be #1. My theater was packed last night. I heard Forbidden Kingdom wasn't even that good. H&K 2 won't make much of a dent in the b.o, but Ironman is going to kill it once it finally comes out.

I havnt seen one piece of advertising for The Forbidden Kingdom besides the poster on imdb.
No trailer tv spot or nothing. Surprised it opened to over 20 million. Forgetting Sarah Marshall isnt doing to bad either. A $16+ million opening for that film is probably going to be looked at as a success. If it as legs like 40 Y.O. Virgin or Knocked up t could become quite a little hit for the studio.
I Still have yet to see a 2008 theatrical release. Kinda wanted to see all 3 new releases this week but probably end up waiting for dvd for them.
Also happy the ignorant biased documentary about supernatural creator of worlds isnt doing much business and wont be likely to expand. Hopefully Bill Mahers upcoming Religuous beats the shit out of this no intelligence doc.

Just goes to show word of mouth is a powerful thing

I thought Leatherheads was fine. I think it's not word-of-mouth but it's NBA playoffs and MLB seasons that are killing it.

I never understod why they didn't release a football movie around the opening of football season.

I'm surprised at Forbidden Kingdom too. I expected Forgetting Sarah Marshall to take the weekend. I want to see both though.

Really? I've seen lots of commercials for "The Forbidden Kingdom".

I'm wondering which films you do see being advertised. Maybe you just aren't the demographic that gets advertised to based on what you do watch on TV, especially since you haven't seen a film theatrically in 2008.

agreed. they seem to do better when they are , i.e. Friday Night Lights, Remember the Titans, Invincible, though those weren't comedies.

I didn't know Forbidden Kingdom existed until Thursday--day before it was released

I saw the Forbidden Kingdom trailer once or twice at the theater, and have been seeing TV spots 4-6 times a night for the past two weeks. I guess it just depends what you watch.

Talking about movies that one has never heard of wht the hell is Expelled? I have never even heard of that movie. ever.

Expelled is Ben Stein's documentary about how there's a "wall" being put in place by the powers that be when it comes to science and scientific research, and it comes down to whether or not you on of the side of Darwinism or Intelligent Design. If you tow the party line in academia (Darwinism), you get to keep all the stuff you have built up for yourself in your academic career, but if you expose a leaning towards ID, then you'll more than likely find yourself expelled from your current academic station in life, and will have a tougher time finding meaningful exployment in the area of your expertise (with access to proper funding, etc.).

I disagree. I think you're in a vast minority that didn't find Knocked Up and Superbad to be great comedies.

I'll be seeing FSM tomorrow. I bet this one will have pretty strong legs on it as all of Apatow's films have so far.

Walk Hard tanked pretty bad. It didn't help that the movie sucked. I think that FSM will not have any legs because it is going for the same audience as Baby Mama which opens next week.

Please, please, please I need FSM to do between $16.1-$17.5 to win my movie estimate office pool.....come on baby.

Well, THE LONGEST YARD remake with Adam Sandler came out in summer and was a hit. So that could mean that it's the star that is to blame if the movie tanks.

I have seen countless of TV ads for Forbidden Kingdom but never thought that the pairing will have much influence to North American audiences so I'm surprised about their opening weekend tally.

Too bad that the movie is geared to a younger audience and that Li and Chan are not the main actors in this movie.