Chicken Little
November 7 Box Office Overview
1. Chicken
Little $40 million (1st week of release): After what seemed
like an eternity, a film finally manages to rake in some decent cash. Disney’s
first CGI animated film that didn’t involve Pixar (Toy Story, The
Incredibles, Finding Nemo) was a big risk for the company, but they had
to see if they could survive once their contract expires with Pixar with
the release of Cars late next year. The answer to that would be
yes and no. While $40 million is a great opening for a film, it’s
still a long ways away from the $75 million opening of The Incredibles
this time last year. Despite the $30 million difference in opening weekends,
this is a great start for a film that was hammered by critics and advertised
more for the detail in animation rather than the story. What really surprised
me was reading that a decent chunk of the audience was over the age of 18.
It’s really interesting how much CGI films have been accepted by adult
crowds and traditional cell animation is still considered kids stuff. If
you really look at it, the only thing that separates the two is that one
is done on a computer, while the other is done on a drawing board. Don’t
be surprised to see Chicken Little drop a bit in the coming weeks,
with Zathura set to be released next week and then the beast that
is Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire the week after, Chicken
Little is going to get some serious competition in the family market.
2. Jarhead
$28.7 million (1st week of release): This one was going to be a tough one
to judge. With the war in Iraq still going strong were audiences going to
have the motivation to see a film that hits too close to home? The answer
to that is a definite yes. Despite the fact that Jarhead was set during
the Gulf War, audiences still felt some kind of connection to what is going
on now and there was no doubt that they were going to venture out to see
this. Plus, I’m pretty sure the all-star cast and Oscar buzz was another
factor, but upon reading the negative reviews, I was a little surprised
that so many still decided to show up. $28 million is a great opening for
a film like this and with the war still going on strong, audiences will
still come despite the films flaws (if you’re wondering what they
are, see my review). I’m pretty sure after the slew of negative reviews
came out, Jarhead lost all of it’s Oscar steam, but it should
still be a popular war film which should be good enough to recoup (or at
least come close to) its $72 million budget. Universal can breathe a sigh
of relief after the roller coaster ride of the past few months with the
success of The 40 Year-Old Virgin and disappointments Serenity
and Doom.
3. Saw II
$17.2 million, ($60.4 million total): With so many dramas, a few family
films and The Legend of Zorro’s failure, audiences were looking
for some kind of alternative and Saw II was more than willing to
provide that. Despite dropping 45% from last week, a $17 million take is
nothing to complain about. Add in the fact that it only cost $4 million
to make this and the folks at Lions Gate are probably dancing in the streets
right about now. Now that Halloween is over, Saw II may see its
audience disappear, but in two weeks it’s racked up more than $60
million at the box office which should guarantee that we will see a Saw
III in the very near future.
4. The Legend of
Zorro $10 million ($30.2 million total): Face it, this
film is a failure……well…..at least on the domestic side.
If Sony can find any positive in this $75 million disaster it would have
to be that it’s killing it overseas. Here in America, it’s a
different story. Like I mentioned last week, sequels that are released more
than 5 years after the original usually tend to do poorly and this is no
different. You can blame this on the lack of interest due to the long time
in-between films, the clichéd story (Zorro’s wife is working
undercover and they introduced a kid….always the sign of death) and
the fact that this first film wasn’t a box office blockbuster. Still,
a 38% drop from last week shows that there is still an audience out there
that wants to see it so Sony should be content to let it run its course
here in the domestic box office and enjoy the success it’s experiencing
over seas. Then once the film has ended its run they should never talk about
making another sequel because this franchise is dead.
5. Prime $5.2 million ($13.5 million total): The top 4 films were
pretty easy to figure out, but when it came to the 5th spot it was going
to be a coin flip between two films, this and Dreamer. From the
looks of it Prime finished ahead by a nose dropping only 15% compared
to Dreamer’s 21%. This is a great sign for a film that was
known mostly for its big name cast (Meryl Streep, Uma Thurman) than the
plot. Prime managed to fly in under the radar and has carved out
a nice little spot for itself with the hardcore movie fans. Odds are it
will be out of the top 5 by next week, but it should enjoy a healthy run
in the bottom half thanks to the art house crowd.
Good Night, and Good Luck
6. Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story $4.8 million ($23.8 million
total)
7. Good Night,
and Good Luck $3.1 million ($11 million total)
8. The Weather
Man $2.9 million ($8.7 million total)
9. Shopgirl $2.5 million ($3.5 million total)
10. Flightplan
$2.3 million ($84.5 million total)
I think the biggest news here is the debut of Good Night, and Good Luck
and Shopgirl. Both films increased their theater count this weekend
and both saw a huge bump in business. In its third week of release, Shopgirl
was the biggest winner of the two increasing its screen counts to 493 which
resulted in a huge increase in box office (more than $2 million). Good
Night, and Good Luck on the other hand took a different route to get
where it's out. The film has been in theaters for five weeks now and has
slowly increased its theater count hoping get that "buzz factors" small
films crave. Look for both films to hang around the bottom 5 and increase
their totals as their screen count increases over the next few weeks, eventually
hitting their peak once award season swings in to full gear and these films
get the nominations they are hoping for.
The Weather Man looks like he's headed for disaster, despite dropping
only 30% from last week. In only its second week of release, Nicolas Cage's
latest film could only muster a meager $2.9 million at the box office and
is more than likely on its way to DVD land a little faster than the folks
at Paramount had planned.
One film that won't be hitting DVD anytime soon is Flightplan.
Jodie Foster's latest thriller is going on its 7th week of release and shows
no signs of slowing down. Flightplan dropped only 14% from last
week and has increased its overall total to $85 million. This film still
has some legs and has a decent chance of staying in the top 10 for at least
another week as well as a decent chance to hit the $100 million mark by
the end of its run.
Last weeks predictions:
1. Chicken Little $29 million
2. Saw II $17 million
3. Jarhead $16 million
4. The Legend of Zorro $9 million
5. Dreamer $4 million
Chicken Little finishing first was a no brainer, but I totally
misjudged the box office appeal that Jarhead had going for it.
Jarhead had a lot of buzz and a strong ad campaign which was a
major factor in its $28 million opening. One thing I can give myself a pat
on the back for is coming pretty close to guessing the correct totals for
Saw II, Zorro and Dreamer. I may have gotten
their order wrong, but at least I can say I got their totals right. I went
with my gut and predicted Dreamer to finish in the top 5, but like
I mentioned earlier it was basically a coin flip between Dreamer
and Prime to finish in the top 5 and it looks like Prime
was the winner.
Zathura
1. Zathura
$28 million
2. Chicken Little $25 million
3. Get Rich or Die Tryin’ $18 million
4. Jarhead $17 million
5. Derailed
$12 million
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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