Wild Hogs roars to the top of the US box office

If it’s March, it must be time for a slapsticky Disney family comedy to rule the charts for a week. It happened with The Pacifier and Bringing Down The House and now Wild Hogs continues the, um, proud tradition of success despite seriously dodgy reviews. Studio estimates give the film a $38 million opening. Taking second, but with a far less impressive figure is David Fincher’s well-reviewed Zodiac. The long running time and mature themes didn’t exactly find mass appeal, resulting in a $13.1 million launch.

Finally knocked from his perch at the top, Ghost Rider slipped down to third, taking $11.5 million, nudging the movie to nearly $95 million in total. That in turn moved Bridge To Terabithia down to fourth, and the kids’ fantasy has now made $57.8 million.

Meanwhile, poor old Jim Carrey just can’t catch a break. After two films shut down before they could even start shooting, his most recent release, The Number 23, dropped like a stone after a disappointing opening. Sitting in fifth place, the film has taken just $24.6 million so far. After Batman Forever and now this, perhaps he’ll stay away from Joel Schumacher in future.

Sixth place finds Norbit still raking in the dollars, making $6.4 million this week and $83 million total. In seventh, Music And Lyrics continues to linger in the middle of the charts, with a modest $38.6 million in the bank.

Opening eighth with a dismal $4.8 million, Craig Brewer’s Hustle & Flow follow-up Black Snake Moan effectively moaned and died at the box office, despite a semi-naked, chain Christina Ricci pouting from the posters. Obviously the tale of a nympho white trash girl “saved” by Samuel L Jackson’s sweaty bluesman just didn’t capture the imagination of the audience. And falling heavily down to ninth place are the inept cops of Reno 911!: Miami, which made $3.7 million over the three days.

The last spot for the weekend is taken by Breach, with the true-life FBI thriller capturing $3.4 million.