It is another measure of the impact that the movie adaptation of Frank Miller's 300 has had on American popular culture that Meet the Spartans, which directly spoofs Zack Snyder's version of Miller's Thermopylae saga, topped the weekend box office with an estimated total of $18.7 million.  Meet the Spartans clearly didn't succeed because of strong critical notices--it scored only 5% on the 'Tomatometer' at the Rotten Tomatoes Website with just one mildly positive review arrayed against 19 vitriolic pans (as the NY Times reviewer put it, anyone who chomps on a candy bar during an evening showing of Meet the Spartans will learn the real meaning of 'Tonight we dine in Hell.').

Sylvester Stallone's hormone-infused fourth Rambo film came in a close second with an estimated total of $18 million. As might be expected the audience for the new Rambo movie was 67% male with half the moviegoers over 25, which means that a good portion of the audience might have seen Rambo III when it opened back in 1988.

The J.J. Abram's-produced monster movie Cloverfield dropped 68% during its sophomore session.  In spite of the considerable fall-off, Cloverfield has earned $64.3 million in just ten days, which means that the film, which cost just $25 million, is already in the black for Paramount.

Meanwhile both National Treasure: Book of Secrets and Alvin and the Chipmunks passed the $200 million milestone, while Academy Award-nominated films such as There Will Be Blood, No Country for Old Men, and Michael Clayton all added substantially to their cumulative totals, especially the Daniel Day-Lewis-starring There Will Be Blood, which expanded to 885 screens, managed to earn $5,522 per venue, and finished at #8.

Sony's Persepolis, which earlier in the week received an Academy Award nomination for 'Best Animated Feature' (see 'Persepolis Gets Animation Nod'), is now up to 58 screens and averaged a solid $6,034 per theater.