By Vince Palomarez | Images property of respective holders.
The Brothers Grimm performs, though not as hoped.
Here are the box office totals for the weekend of August 26-28:
August 29 Box Office Report
1. The
40 Year-Old Virgin ($16.4 million, $48.7 million total):
This was hardly a surprise due to the lack of any major releases this weekend,
but you have to smile at how well this film is doing after two weeks. Despite
being a male driven comedy this film managed to find its audience dropping
only 23% from last weekend. 40 Year-Old has far surpassed its production
budget and should go on to gross at least $75 million. The producers of
The 40 Year-Old Virgin have to give some thanks to The Wedding
Crashers for proving to a conservative audience that an R rated comedy
can be quite successful. Plus with a number one film for two weeks straight
this guarantees we'll see more films from both Carell and Judd Apatow which
makes me a very happy man.
2. The Brothers Grimm
($15 million, 1st week of release): If the producers of this film can be
happy about anything it is the fact that despite all the negative buzz and
reviews surrounding this film it still managed to take in a good sum of
money its first weekend. They better cherish this moment for all it's worth
though because this film can only go down from here. This isn't too much
a shock here seeing as how this film has been completed for over two years
and the studio and director Terry Gilliam have been fighting over control
of this the entire time. The studio pretty much showed their faith in The
Brothers Grimm by releasing it in late August, which is considered
a dead period where studios dump all their unwanted films on us to get ready
for Oscar season. With a production budget around $80 million and a slew
of negative reviews don't expect this film to get anywhere close to recouping
its budget. Hopefully Terry Gilliam can look at this as a small blemish
in his career and focus on making Tideland the classic Gilliam
film we have been waiting for.
3. Red Eye
($10.4 million, $32.6 million total): On a weekend with no major releases
(aside from The Brothers Grimm) and the majority of it's competition
hammered with negative reviews, it was pretty obvious that Red Eye
was going to have a decent weekend. In its second week the film managed
to avoid the usual 45-50% drop that usually befalls thriller/horror films
and instead dropped only 35% to take in a respectable $10 million. For such
a low budgeted film this is definitely a good sign for the studio as well
as director Wes Craven who really needed a hit after his most recent film,
Cursed,
bombed in theaters.
4. Four Brothers
($7.8 million, $55.3 million total): This film continued a trend in the
top 5 that I haven't seen in a long time. None of the films in the top 5
dropped more than 40%, which is incredible. You can attribute this to the
lack of any worthy new releases and the majority of moviegoers out enjoying
the last weekend of summer before school starts, leaving the movie viewing
to hardcore fans. This is not a knock on Four Brothers at all, if anything
it proves that Mark Wahlberg and director John Singleton still have name
power despite what I may have believed.
Red Eye continues to find August success.
5. Wedding Crashers
($6.3 million, $187.7 million total): This film will not die and it has
no reason not to. Despite being out for almost two months now it drops less
than any film in the top 10 (22%) and inches closer and closer to the $200
million mark. With the way things are going and the lack of any major releases
extending through September; expect Wedding Crashers to stick around
in the top 10 for at least the next 3 weeks. You kind of wonder if New Line
is really happy about this. Sure the film is raking in the dough at the
box office, but is this extended theater run going to affect the release
date of the DVD and push it till after Christmas? Just a thought.
Valiant proves Disney needs Pixar.
The rest of the pack: Despite
no publicity at all and a lack of any big names, the horror film The
Cave managed to steal some of the Horror/Thriller audience
on it's way to the number 6 spot in the top 10 and a $6 million dollar opening
weekend. This wasn't a good sign for The
Skeleton Key which became the odd man out dropping a respectable
43% with a weekend total of $4 million and into the number 8 spot. Don't
expect either film to stick around and odds are they will be out of the
top 10 by next weekend.
One film that continues to stick around and movie up the rankings is March
of the Penguins which wedged its way in between the two horror offerings
and into the number 7 spot. Penguins suffered its first big drop of its
theatrical run (29%) and took in a total of $4.5 million. In 10 weeks the
film has gone on to gross $55.7 million total and should cap out at around
the $65 million mark.
Disney must be kicking themselves right now for picking the wrong bird movie.
Going the opposite way of March of the Penguins, Disney's CGI take
on World War II messaging pigeons bombed at the box office for the second
week in a row dropping 43% and landing in the number 9 spot with a weekend
gross of $3.3 million. Valiant
has only managed to take in a dismal $11.5 million total and even though
the budget for this film was relatively low ($35 million), Disney can't
be happy about this.
And coming in last as well as taking the biggest drop in the top 10 (not
the biggest drop overall that award, again, goes Deuce
Bigalow: European Gigalo) is The
Dukes of Hazzard. The film managed to barely hold on to
the last spot dropping 49% grossing only $3 million. Although Warner Bros.
can't be too happy about this they are at least content with the $74 million
total and will look at this as a success. Let's just hope they don't think
about a sequel.
Overall the total box office continues to be down compared to last year and the lack of any good releases will obviously force this bad streak to continue. Studios are crossing their fingers in hope that they can get through the next month with only a minimal decline and then make way for Oscar season and hopefully a strong enough lineup to bring Hollywood back in to the black.
Last week's predictions:
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
I was pretty much spot on with the actual numbers despite one glaring problem………..I
somehow forgot to include Wedding Crashers in to the mix. How I
could forget something as big as that movie I have absolutely no idea. Aside
from that I really lost it in the bottom half expecting Broken Flowers
to capitalize on its gain from last weekend. Instead it just followed the
trend of the week dropping just like everything else.
Box Office predictions for next weekend:
1. The 40 Year-Old Virgin $12 million
2. The Underclassman $9 million
3. The Brothers Grimm $7 million
4. Red Eye $6 million
5. Four Brothers $4 million
6. Wedding Crashers $4 million
7. The Constant
Gardener $3 million
8. March of the Penguins $3 million
9. The Cave $2 million
10. The Skeleton Key $2 million
What do you think? I want to hear from you guys what you think the totals are. Agree with me? Disagree? E-mail me (vince@canmag.com) your totals and I'll post the person who comes closest to the actual totals.
The Brothers Grimm performs, though not as hoped.
Red Eye continues to find August success.
Valiant proves Disney needs Pixar.
Add to Heffee!
