Sunday, September 16, 2007

Box Office Report: 9-16-07

Dude here again. Ummm... I got nothing. Usually I have an idea of how I start off this column, something sticking in my craw, or a humorous anecdote to relay. But nothing of interest really happened. Wow. I'm disappointing myself, even. Oh, I totally just sneezed and bit my tongue at the same time. That's gotta count for something. Even if it is abject stupidity.

This weekend, a movie about dragons and a movie with Jodie Foster battled it out for supremacy, and only one survived, but continued the recent trend of low numbers. Well, technically most of the films produced lower than average numbers. Let's go to said 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. The Brave One (WB) - $14.0, 2755 screens, week 1, $14.0 total

2. 3:10 to Yuma (LGF) - $9.15, 2667 screens, week 2, $28.5 total

3. Mr. Woodcock (NL) - $9.10, 2231 screens, week 1, $9.10 total

4. Dragon Wars (Freestyle) - $5.3, 2275 screens, week 1, $5.3 total

5. Superbad (Sony) - $5.2, 2910 screens, week 5, $111.3 total

6. Halloween (MGM/Wein) - $5.0, 3051 screens, week 3, $51.2 total

7. The Bourne Ultimatum (Uni) - $4.1, 2611 screens, week 7, $216.1 total

8. Balls of Fury (Rogue) - $3.34, 2758 screens, week 3, $28.8 total

9. Rush Hour 3 (NL) - $3.32, 2208 screens, week 6, $133.1 total

10. Mr. Bean's Holiday (Uni)- $2.6, 1770 screens, week 4, $28.4 total

So those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that Jodie Foster can still open a movie, even one that came out just two weeks ago, but starred Kevin Bacon. The Brave One, which ostensibly is the same exact film as Death Sentence on paper, opened up to a weaker than expected $14.1 million dollars. What is this saying about the audiences? I have no idea. I guess when it comes to kickin' arse, people still prefer to respect Charles Bronson.

Mr. Woodcock overcame some harsh reviews and came in a respectable third, battling it out with Yuma for the number 2 spot. Again, watch those numbers flip around in the next day. Still, not bad for a movie that's been hanging out on the shelf for awhile, and looks remarkably like every other Billy Bob Thornton comedy since Bad Santa.

Dragon Wars, the highly anticipated motion picture that finally tells it like it is about the battle between dragons and man on the streets of Los Angeles (take THAT giant fighting robots) opened up to a disappointing fourth place, but can take solace in knowing that in Korea, it's the biggest money maker of all time. (Or something. I'm not entirely too sure. It's huge in it's original country).

Below the radar, a lot of films opened up on small screens, all hoping to garner attention in their own ways. (And all of them playing at my favorite theater out here, where they always seem to be sold out). The Beatles-inspired musical Across the Universe opened up to heavily divided reviews (Either people love it or hate it, with no middle ground) on 23 screens and took in $685,000. Eastern Promises, the latest collaboration between A History of Violence star and director Viggo Mortensen and David Cronenberg, opened up on 15 screens and took in $553,000. And In The Valley of Elah, the latest from Paul Haggis (of Crash fame, the Academy Award winning one, not the one about eroticism in crashed cars... fittingly directed by aforementioned Cronenberg) took in $150,000 on 9 screens.

And in the "Because It's There" series: The Simpsons Movie took in $700,000 on 799 screens, bringing it's grand total to $181,277,000 in 8 weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week, one last "threequel" tries to sneak in, but this one looks pretty kick ass. Oh, and that annoying looking movie with Dane Cook is coming out too. It's possible that Resident Evil, though, will emerge victorious, and might break these low weekend numbers we've been experiencing. One can only hope.

Until next weekend....

No comments: