Aeon Flux
December 5 Box Office Overview
1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire $20.5 million ($229 million total): Well…..it had to happen. After 3 weeks and record box office numbers, Goblet of Fire had to take a tumble. And tumble it did to the tune of a 62% drop from last week. Only Chicken Little—in its fifth week of release—dropped more (64%) than Goblet of Fire did. Is this something Warner Bros. should worry about? I seriously doubt it. Goblet of Fire has already grossed close to $230 million at the box office and should go on to gross another $40 million or so before its run in theaters ends. Still, a 60% drop is not something to be too happy about, but if you look at the rest of the top 10, big drops looked to be the running theme this week.
2. Aeon Flux $13.1 million (1st week of release): When I read a quote from the head of distribution at Paramount studios talking about how Aeon Flux’s $13 million opening weekend was on the high end of what they were expecting to make, I spit up my morning soda because I was laughing so hard. There was no way in hell the folks at Paramount could be happy with a $13 million opening. They made sure they opened this film during a weekend when there was nothing else to compete against it and they advertised the hell out of this film prior to its release. They are lying through their teeth when they say that $13 million was on the high end, they were expecting this film to do monster business. The thing is this film was doomed from the start. For starters, the source material this film was based off of hadn’t been on television in more than 10 years. Secondly, the sci-fi genre, with the exception of Star Wars, seems to be dead; evidenced by the recent box office takes for Doom and Serenity. Add in the fact that the trailers really didn’t make this film seem to enticing to see (honestly, who didn’t laugh at the scene where they were jumping around in the garden? That had to be some of the worst wire work I have ever seen) and you can understand why it did so poorly. This film has bomb written all over it and odds are it will take a huge dip in the top 10 next week.
3. Walk The Line $10 million ($68.7 million total): There were only two films in the top 10 to not drop more than 40% from last week and I bet you thought this might be one of them. I sure did, which is why I was a little surprised to see Walk the Line drop close to 48% from last weeks total. Walk the Line has been the critical darling of the past month and audiences have been lining up to see it. Is this film already on the downside of its run? I highly doubt that. This big drop was more than likely due the lack of moviegoers compared to the holiday weekend. Don’t get me wrong, it won’t make more next week than it did this, but this film has a lot of positive buzz going for it so odds are it will stay strong in the top 5 for at least a few more weeks. Even if it does drop big time next week (which I guarantee you won’t happen), Walk the Line is still a big hit for Fox studios. With a production budget of only $28 million, Walk the Line has already doubled that amount and like I mentioned last week, has a very good shot at hitting the $100 million mark by the end of its run.
4. Yours, Mine and Ours $8.4 million ($34.5 million total): Looks like the family crowd has already seen both Goblet of Fire and Chicken Little as well as stayed as far away from Zathura as possible ($27 million after 4 weeks?!?!? Ouch….someone is getting fired for that), because that can be the only explanation for Yours, Mine and Ours respectable take this weekend. I just don’t understand how this didn’t drop more than 75% from last week. Do people actually find this movie interesting at all?!?! I have yet to read anything about this film, but let me guess what happens based off the synopsis I read: Both sides of the family hate each other which gives their kids the idea to do anything they can to break up the marriage. When their plan actually starts to work they realize the mistake they made and join together to get their mom and dad back together? For those of you brave enough to see it, am I close? I should be since the plot reminds me of a combination of The Parent Trap and an episode of the Brady Bunch. I’m sorry I don’t mean to keep bagging on this film, but it honestly has no business being in the top 5, let alone the top 10.
5. Just Friends $5.6 million ($21 million total): It came as a shocker, but aside from Pride and Prejudice, this was the only other film in the top 10 to not drop more than 40% from last week. The weekend totals from the past two weeks are not monsters, but they are enough to make this film a mild success. With a fairly low production budget (nothing official has been released, but if you look at the cast I’m pretty sure you can figure it didn’t cost more than $30 million to make) Just Friends can be pretty successful hanging around in the bottom 5 for a few more weeks. As long as it keeps making respectable totals each week with low drops, this film should have no problem making $30-$35 million.
Rent
6. Rent $4.4 million ($23.7 million total)
7. Chicken Little $4.4 million ($124 million total)
8. Pride and Prejudice $4.3 million ($22.4 million total)
9. Derailed $2.3 million ($32.7 million total)
10. In the Mix $1.8 million ($8.6 million total)
If there was a race to finish best out of the bottom 5, Pride and Prejudice would be the clear cut winner and everyone else would be sent home disgusted with the performance they put in. It was that kind of weekend for Rent, Chicken Little, Derailed and In the Mix which all saw huge drops from last weekend and moved closer to a DVD shelf near you.
Chicken Little was the biggest loser of the group dropping 65% from last week, but with a $124 million so far, it’s the only film out of the four that doesn’t have to worry about the big declines. The folks who made Rent on the other hand…….that’s a different story. Sony was looking to capitalize big time on the popularity of recent musicals and they had a good start with a majority of positive reviews, but despite the good reviews audiences are nowhere to be seen. Rent dropped close to 60% from last week and doesn’t even look like it’s going to even come close to recouping its $40 million production budget.
The lone positive here has to be Pride and Prejudice. In its 4th week of release it added an additional 28 theaters to bring its total to around 1,300 and sonly dropped 38% from last week. With so much positive buzz going for it, Pride and Prejudice has managed to find itself a nice spot in the bottom 5 and a decent run despite its low theater count. With little need to expand its theater count to the 2,500 range, Pride will never secure a spot in the top 5, but there is nothing holding this film back from hanging around in the bottom 5 for awhile and bringing in the steady figures it has now.
The Chronicles of Narnia
1. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe $65 million
2. Syriana $15 million
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire $12 million
4. Walk the Line $7 million
5. Aeon Flux $6 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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