The Spartans have the last laugh

Although critics like Kyle Smith of the New York Post wrote:

PERSIAN SHRUG
DESIGNER CARNAGE KILLS ANY THRILLS IN BLOODY '300'

...it isn't a stretch to imagine Adolf's boys at a "300" screening, heil-fiving each other throughout and then lining up to see it again.

But yesterday, the New York Times acknowledged the success:

Surprise! Spartans Assault Box Office

LOS ANGELES, March 11 — Even a film business that expects big numbers is likely to be double-checking the box-office receipts for Warner Brothers’ “300” on Monday and asking, “What just happened?”

The sword-and-sandals epic posted an estimated $70 million in ticket sales Friday through Sunday as it surged past hostile critics and industry expectations to become the fourth surprise hit in a winter season that began with a limp.

and

Critics were divided on the merits of Mr. Snyder’s adaptation of Frank Miller and Lynn Varley’s graphic novel about the Spartans’ stand against the Persians at Thermopylae, which A. O. Scott’s review in The New York Times described as “about as violent as ‘Apocalypto’ and twice as stupid.” (An admiring Richard Roeper, of The Chicago Sun-Times, called it “gorgeous to behold.”) Still, ticket buyers were lining up for showings that sold out on various electronic services.

Momentum had been building among fans since the film was introduced at last year’s Comic-Con International comic book and popular arts convention. It received a boost about a month ago when a trailer — highlighting the movie’s stylized, computer-assisted visual approach — caught fire on MySpace. Mr. Snyder and his collaborators also helped broaden the film’s appeal among women by expanding a subplot, about the Spartan queen Gorgo.

The box office receipts would seem like sweet vindication... the tyranny of the majority, you could say.

And if you believe Kyle Smith of the New York Post, they're a majority of "adolf boys."