Box Office Power Rankings

Knocked Up once again triumphed in Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings, with no serious threat posed by Fantastic Four (fourth, of course!) or Nancy Drew (sixth).

As I predicted, Knocked Up retained its Power Rankings crown this past weekend. Although Ocean’s Thirteen ruled the box office and got decent reviews, it was no match for the stellar notices and the strong overall and per-screen performances that buoyed Judd Apatow’s comedy.

It was fairly obvious once the reviews started coming in that Knocked Up would top this week’s edition of Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings. What was surprising was that it came within $14 million of a first-ever perfect score.

As expected, the third Pirates of the Caribbean movie dominated the Memorial Day box office, but $142 million was no match for the feisty limited-release Waitress in Culture Snob’s Box Office Power Rankings. Adrienne Shelly’s film used strong reviews and a blockbuster-worthy per-screen average to land atop this week’s ratings, even though it ranked fifth in overall box office.

Most of us know that box-office gross is a largely meaningless number, and many people think that critics are worthless. In an effort to try to better measure a movie’s overall performance, Culture Snob here offers the first of its weekly Box Office Power Rankings.