Box Office Report for Moviesonline

Dude here again. Another weekend comes and goes. Money has changed hands. Popcorn has been swept up from the cinema floor, and what does it all lead to? Money. Lots of money. Money that you possibly once possessed, but now belongs to a bizarre split between theater owners and studio heads. And for some strange reason, Tom Cruise gets a cut, too. Hey, the guy just lost a gig, he needs what he can get.

This week, we had four new contenders for most popular/successful film of the weekend. Did any succeed? Is success really just proportional? Or merely an illusion? You be the judge. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, rounded to the nearest number. Numbers might change slightly when actuals are reported on Monday)

1. Invincible (BV) - $17.0, 2917 screens, week 1, $17.0 total

2. Talladega Nights (Sony)- $8.0, 3370 screens, week 4, $127.68 total

3. Little Miss Sunshine (FoxSrc) - $7.5, 1430 screens, week 5, $23.0 total

4. Beerfest (WB) - $6.5, 2964 screens, week 1, $6.5 total

5. Accepted (Uni) - $6.476, 2917 screens, week 2, $21.1 total

6. World Trade Center (Par) - $6.39, 3021 screens, week 3, $50.4 total

7. Step Up (BV) - $6.187, 2647 screens, week 3, $50.4 total

8. Idlewild (Uni) - $5.89, 973 screens, week 1, $5.89 total

9. Snakes On A Plane (NL)- $5.86, 3555 screens, week 2, $26.0 total

10. Barnyard (Par) - $5.4, 3003 screens, week 4, $54.7 total


Ok, those are the numbers, so what does this all mean? Well, if you're much more (or less) clever than I am, there is a terrible pun to be made about the performance of Invincible. ("Invincible lives up to it's namesake","Invincible truly is", etc. Look in the papers, you'll see what I mean). Disney once again proves that they have that uplifting sports formula perfected to a science as Mark Wahlberg's football drama takes the lead spot, far outshining any competition. With football season fast approaching, it seems like people wanted to catch that pigskin fever, and catch it, they did. (I can't stop these, I need help).

If you're the Broken Lizard guys, keep drinking guys. Beerfest opened up to some not very good reviews, and to a less than predicted opening. As with most Broken Lizard films, this movie will eventually find it's audience on DVD across college campuses everywhere. It's just a matter of time. The movie is outright hilarious, quite possibly their funniest effort yet. Remember, just because a movie doesn't make tons of money doesn't mean it's a failure. At least in my eyes. Which means nothing.

If you're Outkast, people pretty much didn't care for your new rip-roaring musical. Idlewild barely beat Snakes on a Plane, although to be fair it opened on the fewest amount of screens in the top ten. Mixed reviews for this one might have kept people away, along with the fact that it's a musical. Who knows?

The holdovers from previous weeks are doing just that. Snakes on a Plane went from #1 to #9, with a 57% drop from last week. The hype was short lived. The only film that improved in the top ten was Little Miss Sunshine, which is steadily growing due to good word of mouth and a slowly building release pattern. It will most likely be dubbed "the sleeper hit of the summer", and this will happen in the same publications that proclaim Invincible "invincible." There will also be a reference to August as the "dog days of summer". Mark my words.

Below the radar, the fourth wide release of the weekend, "How To Eat Fried Worms" made $3.95 million dollars to come in #12. And Pirates finally drops out of the top ten, having passed Spider-man in all time domestic gross.

And in the "just because it's there and because I can" series: Strangers With Candy took in $17,900 on 40 screens, bringing it's tally to $2,031,000 in 9 weeks.

There you have my glorious break down. Next week, I know there's a movie with Jason Statham. And that means somebody's getting their ass kicked.

Until next weekend....