By Vince Palomarez | Images property of respective holders.
Wedding Crashers remains to be comedic gold.
Here is the weekend box office totals for the weekend
of July 29-31:
End of July Box Office Report
1. Wedding
Crashers ($20.4 million, total gross: $116 million): With
the success this movie is having you can't help but compare this film to
There's Something About Mary. Both films were "R" rated and released around
mid to late July. Wedding Crashers is definitely the sleeper hit of the
summer and with only a 20% drop from last weekend; look for this film to
have a long and profitable run at the box office eventually topping out
at around $175 million.
2. Charlie and
the Chocolate Factory ($16.4 million, total gross: $148
million): This film continues to maintain it's hold in the top 5 despite
dropping another 43% from last weekend and the major reason for that has
to be the weak lineup of releases this week. Charlie is definitely a hit
this summer, but 2 straight weeks of dropping more than 40% can only be
seen as a sign that it's beginning to lose steam. Warner Bros. can't be
too upset though, $150 million in a summer where the box office is down
is nothing to complain about.
3. Sky High
($14.6 million, 1st week of release): Not exactly the new release I thought
was going to be the top money maker, but even I can be surprised every now
and then. Now that Charlie and the Chocolate Factory has either worn out
or scared (was I the only one that thought this film was way to dark for
kids?) away audiences, families were on the look out for the next kid friendly
flick to check out. $15 million is not really a great opening weekend for
a summer release, but with a budget of around $35 million and some fairly
positive reviews Disney can pat themselves on the back for a decent first
weekend.
Sky High opens respectably.
4. Stealth
($13.5 million, 1st week of release): Ahhhhh Stealth…….the movie I picked
to be #1 last week. What happened? I'll tell you what happened, movie audiences
are a lot smarter than they appear to be and when people see a preview and
think its crap odds are they are going to stay as far away from that crap
as possible. This is a big blow to both Revolution Studios and director
Rob Cohen who was on a hot streak with his last 2 films (The Fast and the
Furious, xXx). At least this is a sign that studios can't just release some
big budget action film with no substance and expect everyone to love it.
This is definitely not a good sign for a movie that had a production budget
over $100 million. Usually these budget films need to recoup at least 30-45%
of its budget in the first week. Sadly the 80's are far from over and moviegoers
nowadays want something with a lot more depth than a talking jet bent on
starting World War III. The only thing this movie has to look forward to
is a short stay in theaters and hopefully a more successful run on DVD.
5. Must Love Dogs ($13 million, 1st week of release):
Can you believe it, almost 2 months into the summer movie season and this
is the first romantic comedy I can recall being released. In a summer filled
with comic book films, big budget action flicks and a few remakes there
was bound to be a romantic comedy squeezed in there to try and steal away
the female crowd and rake in a few dollars at the box office. $13 million
is a decent opening weekend for a fairly low budget film and doesn't really
need a huge weekend to make its money back and then some. Expect this film
to hang around the bottom half of the top 10 for a few weeks and eventually
make around $50-$60 million.
The rest of the pack: Looks like The
Island is all but done falling a disastrous 55% from last
week and into the #7 spot with a weekend take of only $5.6 million. This
is a huge blow to Michael Bay's over inflated ego and now the director is
under the gun to make Transformers a big hit.
The Dukes of Hazzard is next up to bat.
Two films that refuse to die out (even though yours
truly thought they were as good as dead) are Fantastic Four in
the #6 slot ($6.8 million, $136 million total) and War of the Worlds
($5.4 million, $218 million total) coming in at #8. While neither films
had a huge weekend, both only suffered small declines from last weekend
and are enjoying those last bits of summer before falling off the charts
in the next couple of weeks.
The only other new release from last week to stay in the top 10 was Bad
News Bears which took an Island like drop of 53% and a dismal
weekend total of $5.4 million. At least it didn't take as big of a hit as
Hustle and Flow ($4 million) and The Devil's Rejects ($2.6
million) who couldn't muster up anything this weekend and suffered huge
drops that took them out of the top 10.
Rounding out the top 10 despite no movement up or down from last week is
the little engine that could known as March of the Penguins. The
documentary added 80 more theaters to its total and only dropped 6% from
last week taking pretty much what it made last week ($4.1 million).
Overall the total box office numbers are down again for the third week compared
to last year with no end in sight due to a string of weak releases in the
next couple of weeks. With The Dukes of Hazzard being the only
major release next week, expect another weekend of low box office numbers
and a lot of familiar faces at the top of the list.
Last week's predictions:
1. Stealth $38 million
2. Must Love Dogs $22 million
3. Wedding Crashers $17 million
4. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory $14 million
5. Sky High $13 million
6. The Island
$7 million
7. Fantastic Four
$6 million
8. Hustle and Flow $5 million
9. Bad News Bears
$5 million
10. War of the
Worlds $4 million
Well, at lest I was fairly accurate with the bottom 5. Looks like I gave
Stealth and Must Love Dogs far too much credit than they
deserved. After seeing Stealth this weekend I knew the grave error
that I made in picking it to be #1 for the weekend. After seeing Wedding
Crashers last night it more than deserves its spot at the top, but
I just don't see it able to keep that spot for another weekend. Look for
The Dukes to rule this weekend with decent numbers and everything
else to get knocked down a spot.
Box office predictions for next weekend:
1. The Dukes of
Hazzard $35 million
2. Wedding Crashers $16 million
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory $10 million
4. Sky High $9 million
5. The Underclassman $8 million
6. Must Love Dogs $8 million
7. Stealth $6 million
8. March of the Penguins $4 million
9. Fantastic Four $3 million
10. War of the Worlds $3 million
Agree, disagree? Send me an e-mail (vince@canmag.com)
and let me know your thoughts.
Wedding Crashers remains to be comedic gold.
Sky High opens respectably.
The Dukes of Hazzard is next up to bat.
Add to Heffee!
