Warner Bros.' $160 million remake of Poseidon opened a disappointing #2 (with an estimated $20.3 million) as Tom Cruise's Mission: Impossible 3 sailed on to a second straight victory at the weekend box office thanks to an estimated total of $24.5 million, a drop of just 49%, which qualifies as having 'legs' in these days when big budget action pictures often drop 55% or more during their second frame.

 

Warner Bros. will need a strong performance from Poseidon on DVD just to break even, and the failure of the pricy disaster film remake cast a pall over Hollywood as this weekend's box office total lagged 15% behind the same period in 2005 and 23% behind 2004, when Poseidon helmer Wolfgang Peterson's Troy earned almost $47 million over the Mother's Day weekend.

 

After last weekend's strong debut in just 12 theaters Sony Pictures Classics decided to quicken the pace of Art School Confidential's rollout and put it on 762 screens rather than the previously announced 130.  Unfortunately the film earned only a paltry $1593 per screen for total of just $1.2 million.  It is still very early, but it appears that Art School Confidential is going to have a tough time topping Ghost World's $6 million total.  Like The Poseidon Adventure, Art School Confidential's best chance of finding its audience may come on DVD.