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Weekend Box Office Overview 8-22
By Vince Palomarez | Images property of respective holders.
The 40 Year-Old Virgin takes the weekend.
Mid-August Box Office Overview
1. The
40 Year-Old Virgin ($20.5 million, 1st week of release):
Don't think that this film got the #1 spot due to a weak lineup of releases
and an overviewed competition. 40 Year-Old is definitely a hit
and maybe it won't hit Wedding Crashers numbers (I don't expect
too many movies to as well), but it sure will have a lengthy run in the
top 10 if the audience I viewed it with was any indication. Despite the
R rating, 40 Year-Old Virgin has that appealing humor that made
Wedding Crashers so popular. And with a modest production budget
of only $26 million Universal can feel very confident about making their
money back and then some. $20 million may not be a superstar opening, but
the fact that it was released in mid august (a usually slow time for new
releases) with audiences trying to take advantage of the last days of summer
and the fact that this comedy deals with mature subject matter, this can
only be looked at as a positive sign.
2. Red Eye
($16.5 million, 1st week of release): After a 5 year absence Wes Craven
returned this year with 2 films and both are polar opposites of each other.
Earlier in the year he re-teamed with Scream writer Kevin Williamson
for the horror film Cursed. The film bombed at the box office and wasn't
the big hit Dimension was hoping for. Six months later, different studio
and different theme (horror was thrown out the window to make way for a
Hitchcock style thriller) and better results. After only 3 days Red
Eye has made close to 90% of the total gross Cursed made during
its run in theaters and I guarantee you Wes Craven is breathing a sigh of
relief today. $16.5 million is just around the average of recent Horror/Thriller
releases and with mostly positive reviews it should have a decent run throughout
August and early September.
3. Four Brothers
($13 million, $43.6 million total): 2 weeks and two surprising finishes.
I gave this film almost no chance of survival and what does it do? Drops
only 38% and has come fairly close to making its production budget back
that what it does. Looks like audiences have more faith in the John Singleton
and Mark Wahlberg than I ever did cause despite almost no build up for this
film prior to a few weeks before its release it has managed to gain a decent
mix of new and repeat viewers to make a moderate success. This is great
news for Singleton who, aside from the built in audience for 2 Fast
2 Furious, has had a string of duds (Baby Boy, Shaft,
Rosewood) that have tarnished his career.
4. Wedding Crashers
($8.3 million, $178 million total): We're going on almost 2 months now in
the top 5 and I don't know what else I can say about this film. In its sixth
week of release Crashers continues to defy all odds dropping only
30% from last week. If you don't think that's amazing look at its decline
compared to other recent releases and you'll see that Wedding Crashers is
definitely the comedy hit of the summer. Crashers looks like it
won't be taking its exit out of the top 10 gracefully and will probably
manage to hang on till the end of the month.
The Skeleton Key gets the boot by Red Eye.
Valiant proves how much Disney needs Pixar
The rest of the pack: It was a tale of two different birds in the sixth
and seventh spot. Again, March of the Penguins continues its march
to incredible numbers dropping a measly 2% in its 9th week of release for
a total of $6.6 million. Overall the film has raked in $48 million and should
hit the $50 million mark later this week and eventually on it's way to being
one of the top documentaries of all time. The same positive news can't be
said for the other bird movie out there, Disney's computer animated adventure
Valiant.
Going outside of the Pixar house this time, Disney really didn't have a
lot of faith in this film. It had almost no buzz or advertising going for
it (apart from posters in theaters) and that can explain why it brought
in a pathetic $6 million. With most CGI films being budgeted around $80
million plus, Disney would be better off pulling this film from theaters
and try to capture the family DVD market.
The law may have finally caught up with them Duke Boys. Dropping 56% over
the weekend with a $5.7 million take this film has definitely worn out its
welcome and can kiss the top 10 goodbye next week if it continues to drop
a that rate. Warner Bros. shouldn't be too disappointed though, Dukes
has taken in close to $70 million in 3 weeks and may not be the monster
hit the studio was hoping for, but it still has made enough to consider
it a success.
Going the opposite way the Dukes did and proving that it has just
as much staying power as Wedding Crashers is Charlie
and the Chocolate Factory. Dropping only 38% in its sixth
week of release, Charlie took in another $4.5 million to claim
the ninth spot and closer to the sacred $200 million mark. With a grand
total of $192 million, look for Charlie to hit that $200 million
by the end of the weekend.
And finally rounding out the top 10 is a film that has gone under everyone's
radar except for families that continue to flock to it. Sky
High continues to hang around refusing to bow out gracefully
dropping only 36% again and finishing out the weekend with $4 million. The
film has gone on to gross an impressive $50 million and should be proud
of what it has accomplished despite the little hype it received.
Other interesting notes, this weeks award for the biggest drop of the week
goes to Deuce Bigalow:
European Gigolo which dropped a ginormous 63% finishing
out of the top 10 in only it's second week with a weekend total of $3.6
million. I have to say though, that it's hardly a surprise. One film that
was a big surprise was the small indie film Broken Flowers. Bill
Murray's newest flick expanded to more theaters and reaped the benefits
increasing 32% over last week with a weekend total of $2.2 million. In only
389 theaters expect the totals to increase as it gets a wider release.
Overall though the total box office is still down 3% from last year and with no big releases on the horizon expect this number to continue to grow bigger as studios scratch their heads trying to figure out how to fix the problems.
Last weeks predictions:
1. The 40-Year-Old Virgin $22 million
2. Red Eye $19 million
3. Four Brothers $12 million
4. Wedding Crashers $9 million
4. The Dukes of
Hazzard $8 million
5. The Skeleton Key $7 million
6. March of the Penguins $6 million
7. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory $5 million
8. Sky High $4 million
9. Must Love Dogs $3 million
10. Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo $2 million
I was on fire with the top 4 then it all went crashing down from there.
It was kind of easy to guess that both 40 Year-Old and Red
Eye were going to finish in the top two. There really wasn't anything
else worth checking out (as you have all proven considering Supercross
couldn't even crack the top 10) and everything that was worth seeing again
(Charlie and Wedding Crashers) has probably been seen
multiple times by now.
The Brothers Grimm is next up to bat.
1. The 40 Year-Old Virgin $15 million
2. The Brothers
Grimm $14 million
3. Red Eye $10 million
4. Four Brothers $8 million
5. March of the Penguins $6 million
6. Skeleton Key $4 million
7. The Dukes of Hazzard $3 million
8. Broken Flowers $3 million
9. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory $2 million
10. Sky High $2 million
Let's try something new this week, I want to hear from you guys what you
think the totals are. Agree with me? Disagree? E-mail (vince@canmag.com)
me your totals and I'll post the person who comes closest to the actual
totals.
Stay tuned for updates.
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Vince Palomarez
Sources: Images property of respective holders.
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