'10,000' wins, but it's not epic

At the box office, "10,000" was only half as mammoth as "300."

Warner Bros.' big-budget, prehistoric epic "10,000 BC" took in an estimated $35.7 million over the weekend, the studio said Sunday.

For the second year in a row, Warner Bros. dominated early March with a No. 1 movie -- although ticket sales for filmmaker Roland Emmerich's adventure were a far cry from the record-setting $70.9 million that the Spartan battle epic "300" opened to in 2007, the best ever for the month.

Walt Disney Co.'s G-rated family comedy "College Road Trip" ranked a distant No. 2 for the weekend with an estimated $14 million.

The PG-13-rated "10,000 BC" fell shy of predictions from bullish box-office analysts of $40 million or more, although Warner Bros. and several market researchers had projected an opening closer to $30 million.

"We hit our mark," said Dan Fellman, the studio's president of domestic distribution. "It's a big spectacle and a popcorn movie, and there is not a lot of strong product directly targeting our film in the next few weeks."

Friday's big release, for example, is sure to be 20th Century Fox's "Horton Hears a Who," an animated comedy aimed squarely at families.

Warner and its partner Legendary Pictures co-produced "10,000 BC" for about $125 million.

The low-profile cast is headed by Steven Strait as a hunter confronting saber-toothed tigers, mammoths and other dangers, and Camilla Belle as his love interest.

As expected, "10,000 BC" skewed male in its opening weekend, with 61% of the audience made up of men and boys. Crowds were evenly split between those over and under 25.

Based on recent trends for Hollywood spectacles and Emmerich's record with effects-driven movies, "10,000 BC" could prove far more popular overseas, Fellman said. "Independence Day," "The Day After Tomorrow" and "Godzilla," all directed by Emmerich, did more than 60% of their business abroad.

This weekend's results were encouraging on that front, as "10,000 BC" ranked No. 1 in 19 of the 20 foreign territories where it opened, totaling $25.3 million.

Despite bad reviews -- the website Rottentomatoes.com listed 73 slams and six endorsements as of Sunday -- and a mediocre "C" rating from moviegoers surveyed by CinemaScore, "10,000 BC" could hold up well enough to ultimately top $100 million in the U.S. and Canada, Fellman said.