‘300: Rise Of An Empire’ Set To Top Box Office On Weak Movie Weekend

300: Rise of an Empire, the sequel to the 2007 surprise blockbuster 300 about the ancient Greek city-state of Sparta and its battle against invading Persian legion, faces little fight at the box office this weekend and is expected to easily finish as the Number One movie in the country, taking in between $40 million and $45 million after Sunday’s final showings on the 3,470 screens where the sword-and-sandal action flick is playing.

The fact that ticket prices are jacked up by 3D showings on 3,100 of those screens won’t hurt the movie’s take at the turnstile. Also, the only real competition the R-rated flick faces this weekend comes from Mr. Peabody and Sherman, a $145 million-budgeted computer-animated version of a 1960s-era Saturday morning cartoon.

In fact, the original version Peabody’s Improbably History, never even had its own show. The cartoon aired as short segments between the featured cartoon shorts on The Rocky And Bullwinkle Show. Nonetheless, the film from DreamWorks Animation is expected to take in about $30 million, a healthy sum but far short of the predicted haul for 300: Rise of an Empire.

Those two films are the only new releases from Hollywood for the weekend beginning March 7. Other competition for 300: Rise of an Empire comes from two films trying to maintain their momentum going into their second week of release. The Liam Neeson-topped airplane hijacking thriller Non Stop will probably sacrifice much of its young male demographic to 300: Rise of an Empire. Non Stop has made $36.7 million so far, and should add between $15 million and $20 million to its ledger this weekend.

But the film of most interest to box-office report junkies is the Jesus biopic Son of God. Bolstered by church groups and a heavily religious audience, the film produced by Mark Burnett who created the TV reality show Survivor added $5.8 million during the week to its $26.5 million weekend gross.

Industry soothsayers envision the Christian-friendly film to finish a distant fourth to 300: Rise of an Empire this weekend with about $15 million.

Made at a cost of $100 million by Warner Bros., 300: Rise of an Empire opened with a solid Thursday midnight screening take of $3.3 million.