Box Office Report: 6-3-07

Dude here again, with yet another weekend of debauchery at my fingertips. I believe I pushed myself to levels heretofore unknown within my own capabilities. People with a problem call it a tolerance. I call it the benchmark. My mother is unbelievably proud.

This weekend, the pirates continue the trend of large second week drops for giant movies, and our normal summer movie season rolls in. 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. Pirates: At World's End (BV) - $43.188, 4362 screens, week 2, $216.5 total

2. Knocked Up (Uni) - $29.28, 2871 screens, week 1, $29.28 total

3. Shrek The Third (Par/DW)- $26.7, 4109 screens, week 3, $254.6 total

4. Mr. Brooks (MGM) - $10.0, 2453 screens, week 1, $10.0 total

5. Spider-Man 3 (Sony) - $7.5, 3402 screens, week 5, $318.26 total

6. Waitress (FoxSrch) - $2.0, 605 screens, week 5, $9.45 total

7. Gracie (PicH) - $1.36, 1164 screens, week 1, $1.36 total

8. Bug (LGF) - $1.22, 1661 screens, week 2, $6.09 total

9. 28 Weeks Later (FoxA) - $1.20, 1121 screens, week 4, $26.577 total

10. Disturbia (Par/DW) - $1.1, 1035 screens, week 8, $76.7 total

Ok, those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means my buddy Jim owes me money, or at the very least credit. He did not feel that Knocked Up would make any money due to it's lack of stars. I told him he's wrong, and that it will make a lot of money on opening weekend. And I'm right. And you know something, I love it when I'm right. And it happens a lot. Seriously. My track record is disturbingly accurate. (With all matters of life, not just movie openings). But yeah, Knocked Up took second place, which is quite good for an R-Rated comedy starring one of the co-stars from 40 Year Old Virgin. It helps that the movie is fantastic and received near universal praise. It also took in a higher per screen average than Captain Jack, who in turn dropped 62% from last week's haul.

Kevin Costner and Demi Moore make me feel like I'm in the summer of 1994 all over again with Mr. Brooks, which took in a decent $10 million for the weekend. Everything I've heard about this film tells me that it makes absolutely no sense, but it's entertaining as hell. Sounds fun to me. Oh, and there was a soccer movie called Gracie that also opened up this weekend, and it's based on Elizabeth Shue (From Adventures in Babysitting!), and I'm willing to bet they filmed it in New Jersey, as she is also a Jersey girl. (It should also be noted the director is the same man who brought us An Inconvenient Truth last year). Anyway, not a lot of people saw this movie.

In a strange cultural shift I'd like to point out, Lindsay Lohan's DUI (complete with cocaine and rehab!) failed to spark even the most remote interest from moviegoers, and Georgia Rule is dead in the water. Hopefully this will curb producers from putting her in their films. Seriously. She's more annoying to me than Shrek. And I really don't care for Shrek.

A lot of people are going to point out that this is the first weekend since the summer movie season began without a sequel being released. And those people are wrong. Why? Because they're idiots who don't do their research. Because this weekend another sequel DID come out, just not on 8000 screens. It's Day Watch, which I have also praised as a fantastic moviegoing experience. It opened on 50 screens, and took in $46,300. Not bad, and it's about on par with Night Watch. I hope people get a chance to see this movie, as it's a lot of fun, and vastly entertaining.

It's interesting to point out the presence of Fox Searchlight movies this summer, as there are four out in release, all small films, that are making some coin. The Namesake has been out for almost 14 weeks now, and is still reeling them in. Waitress is in the top ten again. Once, the Irish musical that's receiving unanimous praise the likes of which I have never seen, is slowly expanding but taking in the dough and giving out the love. And now Day Watch, which if they market just a little bit harder, should be doing well into the summer, as they continue to market "The antidote to the summer blockbusters". Good work. Way to fight the onslaught of sequels, but way to do it the right way: By making and releasing GOOD movies. (That's where a lot of people get it wrong).

And in the "Because It's There" series: Blades of Glory took in $336,000 on 242 screens, bringing it's grand total to $116,806,000 in 10 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week some more sequels, including Hostel 2 (which Roth claims will be the last, so if it does well, expect Roth-less installments) and Ocean's 13, which really could just be Steven Soderbergh and George Clooney and everybody apologizing for Ocean's 12 for two hours, and it would still be better than Ocean's 12.

Until next weekend....