WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: A Laboriously Long Weekend

What a wimpy way for such a powerhouse summer to end. Hollywood unleashed four wide releases and not a single one of them managed to connect with audiences. The most successful of the bunch is the Vin Diesel starring futuristic action flick, BABYLON A.D. but that only managed a second place finish, allowing Ben Stiller’s TROPIC THUNDER to top the charts for three consecutive weeks. How are we supposed to go back to school feeling so uninspired?

TROPIC THUNDER added over 120 screens this week to it’s already 3000+ count and saw its returns slack off only 29%. The film is essentially one week away from making good on its reported $90 million budget and that’s only from domestic returns. Its $11.5 million take was plenty to keep BABYLON A.D. from debuting on top. The latter finished in first on Friday but the narrow gap was not enough to hold on to the ultimate title come weekend’s end. BABYLON A.D. managed a fairly miniscule average and will come nowhere near recouping its $70 million budget. Producers, now would be a good time to sign Vin Diesel up for your next pic. I hear he comes at a crazy discounted rate.


The week’s other debuts were all fairly forgettable. The Don Cheadle Bourne-style thriller, TRAITOR, was the only one of the bunch to muster a respectable per screen average. Having opened on Wednesday ate into its weekend returns somewhat so it might have managed a potential fourth place finish but still, no better than that. DISASTER MOVIE lived up to its title, opening in seventh place. Perhaps the adolescent audiences that usually flock to these farces might finally have had enough. Let’s hope, shall we? And speaking of adolescents, did they all leave the country for the weekend? The teen raunch comedy, COLLEGE, didn’t come anywhere close to making the grade, opening in a pathetic 15th place.

Given the lack of performance of Hollywood’s newest offerings, I think it appropriate to celebrate longevity instead. In its seventh week of release, MAMMA MIA! actually saw its tally increase over last week, even after dropping over 350 screens. Woody Allen’s 40th feature, VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA inched back into the Top 10 after narrowly missing out last week, coasting on a loss of less than 1%, scoring the highest per screen average in the Top 10. Below the Top 10, WALL-E added 370 screens late in the game and saw a 15% increase, for a grand total of $217 million. And of course, how can I address longevity without mentioning THE DARK KNIGHT? The film fell off a scant 17%, inched back up to third place and officially crossed the $500 million mark.


The art house offerings were pretty quiet this week, no doubt waiting to platform a number of awards contenders in the fall. ELEGY and TELL NO ONE continued to post impressive gains with slight expansions. HAMLET 2 however, failed to connect. Sure it increased over 280% this week after adding 1,494 screens but its per screen was barely over a grand. They should never have made a sequel.

NEXT WEEK: It should be another uneventful weekend. Hollywood only has one major release to unleash, the Nicolas Cage action flick, BANGKOK DANGEROUS. This should pretty much leave plenty of space for everyone to catch their summer favorites one last time.

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Death Pulls Out of the Race

Ordinarily, a week with four major wide releases is unheard of. I suppose though when all four of those releases are not expected to do great business, there’s no harm in dumping them all at once. DEATH RACE, the one where Joan Allen slums it in a Jason Statham testosterone fest for a fat pay cheque, was expected to pull out in front but it was ultimately shut out by last week’s leftovers and a cute little Playboy bunny. Can you say emasculating?

The Ben Stiller comedy, TROPIC THUNDER stayed strong in first place. Out of the gate on Friday, the film was trailing the Anna Faris vehicle and unexpected box office draw, THE HOUSE BUNNY but a the boys came out in droves on Saturday, allowing for TROPIC THUNDER to pull out ahead. Still, THE HOUSE BUNNY take was better than expected, scoring the highest average of any film in release, and should move the very funny Faris up a few notches in the Hollywood standings. DEATH RACE trailed in third, earning a pretty mediocre $12 million. That’s double what his sleeper hit, THE BANK JOB, did last spring but people actually liked that one so I would expect this third place finish will be forgotten as soon as it steps off the podium next week.


This week’s other two wide releases barely registered. The Fred Durst directed, THE LONGSHOTS, in which Ice Cube coaches a little girl football team (can’t you hear the roar from the crowd?), barely broke the Top 10. At least he didn’t miss the Top 10 altogether, which for a major release, might as well mean you never had a release date. The Rainn Wilson vehicle, THE ROCKER, opened on Wednesday to get a head start and still came in last. The film’s average came in under a grand and it’s total of $2.75 million was only good enough for a 12th place finish. I’m pretty sure by Olympic standards, that means neither film even managed to qualify.

Woody Allen’s beautiful VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA couldn’t hold on to its spot in the Top 10 but it did hold on to 80% of its audience. Coming in at number 11, the film earned an average of $4,339, higher than most in the Top 10, for a total of $3 million. The film is well on track to be Allen’s biggest hit since MATCH POINT and could even surpass that if its expansion goes well. Also below the Top 10 – and also starring Penelope Cruz for that matter – the dry satire, ELEGY (also starring Ben Kingsley), added 86 screens to its theatre count and shot up over 800%. It’s per screen average ($5,466) is second only to THE HOUSE BUNNY and it performed better than the expensive Focus Features Sundance acquisition, HAMLET 2. The Steve Coogan laugher opened softly on 103 screens before its wider release next week but only pulled in half the house, with an average $4,223. It’s going to need some major word of mouth in order to fill the seats next weekend.


Speaking of NEXT WEEK: More August dumping … Vin Diesel must save the world in BABYLON A.D. A bunch of unknowns go to COLLEGE. Don Cheadle jumps on the terrorist bandwagon in TRAITOR. And the guys who brought you EPIC MOVIE and MEET THE SPARTANS (and who apparently never do anything other than make spoof films) are back with DISASTER MOVIE, where everything just watched this summer gets spit on. When is someone going to spit on them, man?

WEEKEND BOX OFFICE: Pineapples and Pants

I thought for sure this would be the week. It was pretty amazing last weekend when a franchise as big as THE MUMMY 3 couldn’t beat it but you’ve got to fall sometime. With two brand new, anticipated films debuting in wide release, I figured THE DARK KNIGHT was a goner but I was mistaken. Despite grossing ahead of the bat on Friday, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS was unable to keep its hold throughout the weekend, allowing THE DARK KNIGHT to pull in another $26 million and remain the king of the box office for a fourth weekend in a row.

PINEAPPLE EXPRESS debuted Wednesday to the biggest August Wednesday opening of all time. This might sound impressive but really, we’re talking about $12 million here. THE DARK KNIGHT made $18 million in its first Wednesday, five days after its initial release. Still, it isn’t fair to compare any film to THE DARK KNIGHT. In total, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS has earned just over $40 million in five days. Compared to past Apatow productions, PINEAPPLE EXPRESS has earned more in five days than all but SUPERBAD, including the $200+ million grossing KNOCKED UP and this year’s FORGETTING SARAH MARSHALL. This proves it; audiences love schleppy guys who sit around talking smack. When will the Apatow tide turn?


This week’s other major release is the sequel, THE SISTERHOOD OF THE TRAVELING PANTS 2. Now I am not a teenage girl so this movie has zero appeal for me but though the girls didn’t come out in HANNAH MONTANA numbers, the film still built on its predecessor. The film is tracking about $4 million ahead of the last film’s 5-day take and will likely top out at about $50 million if all holds well. Given the first film’s modest take and the equally modest take of the sequel, I’m still not sure why these pants are seeing more of the world than I am.

There are two films outside the Top 10 that pulled in higher averages than any film in the Top 10. The first is the Ben Kingsley/Penelope Cruz spring/fall romance, ELEGY Debuting on six screens, the film pulled in a per screen average of $17K. The second is the Patti Smith documentary, DREAM OF LIFE. The film is playing on just one little screen and pulled in over $8K on average. I guess Patti would appreciate the smaller platform. Also making an impression on people’s taste buds is the winemaking ensemble piece, BOTTLE SHOCK. Bowing on 48 screens and featuring a cast as diverse as Alan Rickman and Bill Pullman, the film pulled in over $6K per screen and will be expanding its tasting next week.


Meanwhile, on the expansion front, a couple of promising possibilities seem to be stalling. While both BRIDESHEAD REVISITED and AMERICAN TEEN saw their grosses blow up over 200% last week, this week, they each saw declines as they continued to expand. Then there’s MAN ON WIRE. This documentary about tightrope walker, Philippe Petit, is treading very slowly across its own wire, expanding by 55 screens this week and subsequently posting an increase of over 450%. Distributor Magnolia best not get too aggressive; it’s a long way to fall.

NEXT WEEK: TROPIC THUNDER, the APOCALYPSE NOW style, comedic spoof starring and directed by Ben Stiller looks like it will finally take down the bat as it opens early on Wednesday. Keifer Sutherland is back in theatres in the horror, MIRRORS. George Lucas continues to squeeze every last drop of Star Wars gold with the animated CLONE WARS. More importantly though, Woody Allen is back with VICKY CRISTINA BARCELONA. Let’s see if great buzz and a much talked about kiss between Penelope Cruz and Scarlet Johansson can help it beat the big guys despite opening on a fraction of the screens.

Source: Box Office Mojo