This weekend, an annoying/jolly green giant did what Venom, Sandman, Doc Ock, and the Green Goblin have failed to do: beat Spider-man. While not breaking records, Shrek still managed to take in a lot. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Monday. Just to prove me wrong).
1. Shrek The Third (Par/DW)- $122.0, 4122 screens, week 1, $122.0 total
2. Spider-Man 3 (Sony) - $28.5, 4324 screens, week 3, $281.858 total
3. 28 Weeks Later (FoxA) - $5.15, 2305 screens, week 2, $18.6 total
4. Disturbia (Par/DW) - $3.675, 2547 screens, week 6, $71.3 total
5. Georgia Rule (Uni) - $3.49, 2531 screens, week 2, $12.6 total
6. Fracture (NL) - $2.46, 1607 screens, week 5, $34.7 total
7. Delta Farce (LGF) - $1.8, 1931 screens, week 2, $6.1 total
8. The Invisible (BV) - $1.3, 1378 screens, week 4, $17.66 total
9. Hot Fuzz (Rogue) - $1.255, 973 screens, week 5, $21.079 total
10. Waitress (FoxSrch) - $1.1, 116 screens, week 3, $2.176 total
Ok, those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, I think it means we're going to have multiple films grossing more than $100 million in one weekend. First Spidey, now Shrek. Pirates is obviously going to, Harry Potter most likely will. And I wouldn't count out The Simpsons. Just a theory right now, though. It really says something, though, when a movie can open up with $122 million and it doesn't break any records. Sure, it joins an elite club, but it's just not good enough to be the top. (Remember kids, second place is really a nice way of saying the first loser). Making the disappointment that much harsher is that Shrek is a good hour (at the least) shorter than Spiderman, meaning they could fit more shows of Shrek in a given day, and this is the best that it can produce. For shame, Shrek.
(Note to Dreamworks/Paramount: Yes, it was a big weekend. But don't let that fool you into thinking that it's a quality film. In short, please stop making Shrek movies. Seriously. They're tired and annoying).
Spidey came in second, taking in almost $30 million dollars AND adding 72 more screens. Insane. The train is slowing down, but the damage is most certainly done. The other holdovers are barely taking in anything, but it's nice to see Hot Fuzz still on the top ten again. And it's nice that Disturbia stayed in fourth place, because that saved me some time writing this up. And it's really nice to see Waitress pop it's head up into the top ten. Hopefully people will be able to get out and check this little flick out, as a nice antidote to the tentpole pics.
Beneath the radar a few more indie flicks opened up. Once, an Irish musical (which I'm told is awesome and I will be finding out for myself soon) opened up on 2 screens and took in $60,500, giving it a higher per screen average than Shrek. (Another blow to the machine). The Wendall Baker Story, the directing debut of Luke Wilson and his brother Andrew, finally opened up on 17 screens and took in $53,000. And Even Money, a movie I only know about because I worked with the director Mark Rydell last summer, took in $26,000 on 6 screens.
And in the "Because It's There" series: Year Of The Dog took in $119,000 on 149 screens, bringing it's grand total to $1,360,000 in 6 weeks.
There you have my break down. Next week I'll just have to replace the word Shrek with the word Pirates, thus saving me time and giving me a three day weekend!
Until next weekend....
(This is allegedly Heath Ledger's look as the Joker)
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