.. Awards Watch
.. Top Ten Lists
.. Top Ten Chart
.. The Top 20 Chart

Final Weekend Numbers

While the Martin Luther King holiday weekend reflected a fair amount of Globe-trotting, the most popular films in theaters hopped to a different tune. Elliott was wrong, January is the cruelest month in movie theaters and those who have been enjoying the recent influx of prestige pics can only ‘roo this weekend’s results.

Bouncing to the top of the pack with an estimated $21.7 million was Warner Bros.’ Kangaroo Jack, a yarn about a mischievous marsupial that steals a bag of purloined money from inept mobsters. In the words of producer Jerry Bruckheimer, “it’s a movie for 12-year-olds” and the folks in Burbank unquestionably caught a lucky playdate. As with last weekend’s Just Married, that slice of the moviegoing public has been starved for new product and ravenously ate up the silly antics.

Martin Lawrence in Sony’s National Security - an action-comedy that fit the bill nicely for undemanding audiences - was almost as potent with a $17.5 million debut. Again, it filled a vacuum and no one likes to see the niches lying fallow. With that in mind, the third frosh entry, MGM’s A Guy Thing, was a week late and several million dollars shy in seventh spot with $8 million. It was vying for the same crowd as Just Married and wound up an also-ran to that picture.

The holiday frame should generate roughly $150 million largely on the sheer volume of movies. Kangaroo Jack packed a wallop comparable to last year’s debut of Snow Dogs but didn’t have the $33.6 million oomph of the 2002 holiday expansion of Black Hawk Down. So, overall business declined by approximately 2%.

As the awards derby is still awaiting a pace-setter, such films as The Hours, Chicago, About Schmidt and The Pianist continued to add theaters judiciously. The first three films figured among the weekend’s top 10 and should benefit from their Golden Globes honors and prominence when Oscar’s slate is announced in three weeks.

The Pianist, Talk to Her and Antwone Fisher (snubbed by Globe voters) appear to have connected with their core audience and now must be strategic about timing expansions. However, the future of several other films remains precarious and in dire need of Academy attention. That prognosis certainly applies to Narc and, to a lesser extent, The Gangs of New York which has been falling off rather consistently by one-third each weekend.

The weekend also featured theatrical premieres of a pair of Oscar foreign-language submissions. Brazil’s highly lauded tale of urban crime and violence City of God should gross a sterling near $110,000 from five screens. Also strong was the contemporary Palestinian allegory Divine Intervention with close to a $20,000 box office from two venues. The latter film was disqualified from foreign-language competition when it was discovered the submission was made by the film’s producers and not a recognized film body from that region.

Weekend Finals - January 17-20, 2003

		Title	Distrib	Weekend	% Change	Theaters	Cume	Wks
1	New	Kangaroo Jack	WB	21,895,483	-	2818	21,895,483	1
2	New	National Security	Sony	16,813,517	-	2729	16,813,517	1
3	1	Just Married	Fox	13,771,777	-32%	2769	35,329,299	2
4	3	Catch Me If You Can	DreamWorks	12,524,998	-27%	3050	136,318,125	4
5	2	Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers	New Line	12,503,890	-30%	3110	300,122,052	6
6	6	Chicago	Miramax	9,744,060	33%	557	29,403,704	4
7	New	A Guy Thing	MGM	8,066,232	-	2515	8,066,232	1
8	5	About Schmidt	New Line	6,822,657	-11%	946	30,689,435	7
9	22	The Hours	Par	5,739,165	412%	402	8,428,972	4
10	4	Two Weeks Notice	WB	4,716,308	-41%	2240	85,611,004	5
11	8	The Gangs of New York	Miramax	4,625,550	-23%	2170	61,399,206	5
12	7	Maid in Manhattan	Sony	3,715,850	-39%	2171	88,871,393	6
13	9	Antwone Fisher	Fox Searchlight	3,419,087	-27%	1021	14,947,613	5
14	11	25th Hour	BV	2,775,673	-19%	490	7,584,011	5
15	16	My Big Fat Greek Wedding	IFC	2,601,083	3%	1171	234,268,965	40
16	12	Narc	Par	2,308,939	-32%	822	6,633,523	5
17	14	Adaptation	Sony	2,308,939	-31%	564	12,307,166	7
18	10	The Wild Thornberrys	Par	2,103,608	-52%	2061	37,707,036	5
19	15	Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets	WB	1,904,561	-41%	1077	257,897,677	10
20	13	Drumline	Fox	1,744,674	-50%	1117	53,637,010	7
21	20	The Pianist	Focus/TVA	1,478,556	21%	258	4,262,622	4
22	21	The Lion King (Large Format)	BV	1,259,479	-2%	66	8,701,652	4
23	18	Die Another Day	MGM	1,077,992	-38%	975	157,698,762	9
24	17	The Hot Chick	BV	660,884	-68%	666	33,595,715	6
25	24	Far from Heaven	Focus	532,419	-13%	264	12,706,263	12
26	23	Treasure Planet	BV	522,290	-32%	512	37,179,160	8
27	19	Star Trek: Nemesis	Par	476,530	-61%	1022	42,476,927	6
28	36	The Ring	DreamWorks	412,280	102%	366	127,941,835	14
29	28	Bowling for Columbine	MGM/Alliance	399,665	-2%	213	16,513,059	15
30	25	Frida	Miramax	398,235	-16%	200	22,484,106	12
31	27	Talk to Her	Sny Class/Seville	386,084	-15%	66	3,335,076	9
32	30	Rabbit-Proof Fence	Miramax	352,578	-11%	94	2,616,136	8
33	31	The Santa Clause 2	BV	234,236	-40%	296	139,016,718	12
34	35	8 Mile	Uni	218,935	-13%	246	115,953,495	11
35	33	Nicholas Nickelby	MGM	218,121	-27%	93	813,916	4
36	34	Sweet Home Alabama	BV	204,761	-25%	219	126,721,462	17
37	32	Seraphin, un homme et son peche	Alliance	197,077	-40%	70	5,807,152	8
38	37	The Crime of Padre Amaro	IDP	181,765	-3%	92	5,036,231	9
39	42	Space Station	Imax	142,905	64%	42	31,138,395	40
40	29	Empire	Uni	121,015	-68%	133	17,418,270	7
41	26	Analyze That	WB	120,625	-72%	142	31,754,138	7
42	New	City of God	Miramax	114,442		5	114,442	1
43	48	The Quiet American	Miramax	102,824	30%	9	539,241	9
44	43	Confessions of a Dangerous Mind	Miramax	95,897	-6%	5	461,916	3
45	41	Real Women Have Curves	Newmarket	86,782	-26%	81	5,614,086	13
46	39	Friday After Next	New Line	63,176	-46%	103	32,831,553	9
47	N/A	Tadpole	Miramax	62,032		77	2,882,062	27
48	81	Eight Crazy Nights	Sony	59,945	259%	103	23,540,238	8
49	46	Ghost Ship	WB	54,598	-35%	82	30,079,316	13
50	40	Evelyn	MGM	50,587	-36%	63	1,299,631	5
51	47	Signs	BV	50,182	-34%	71	227,935,522	25
52	45	Tuck Everlasting	BV	45,394	-55%	73	19,105,191	15
53	49	Jonah: A Veggies Tale Movie	Artisan	43,895	-46%	102	25,548,201	17
54	50	Russian Ark	Wellspring	43,215	-38%	4	346,912	6
55	44	The Emperor's Club	Uni	39,540	-54%	76	14,028,385	9
56	54	Star Wars, Episode 1	Fox	38,383	-13%	8	310,397,364	36
57	52	I Spy	Sony	34,768	-37%	66	33,561,137	10
58	58	Cirque du Soleil - Journey of Man	Sony Classics	29,342	-22%	5	14,786,444	132
59	59	Standing in Shadow of Motown	Artisan	29,286	-8%	44	1,440,367	10
60	51	Kaante	Media Partners	28,197	-44%	19	1,041,228	5
61	53	Intacto	Lions Gate	25,811	-50%	25	195,477	5
62	64	Secretary	Lions Gate	24,920	-6%	22	3,949,075	18
63	71	Spirited Away	BV	22,512	-22%	20	5,523,342	18
64	N/A	Divine Intervention	Avatar/Seville	22,374		3	93,302	4
**percentage change is 3-day to 3-day

 

 

Weekend Estimates - January 17-20, 2003

Title	Distributor	Gross (average)	% change	Theaters	Cume
Kangaroo Jack	WB	21.7 (7,710)	-	2818	21.7
National Security	Sony	17.5 (6,400)	-	2729	17.5
Just Married	Fox	14.0 (5,070)	-32%	2769	35.6
Lord of the Rings: Two Towers	New Line	12.9 (4,140)	-30%	3110	300.5
Catch Me If You Can	DreamWorks	12.7 (4,170)	-27%	3050	136.5
Chicago	Miramax	9.1 (16,300)	31%	557	28.6
A Guy Thing	MGM	8.0 (3,190)	-	2515	8
About Schmidt	New Line	6.7 (7,100)	-13%	946	30.5
The Hours	Par	5.6 (14,030)	403%	402	8.3
Two Weeks Notice	WB	4.8 (2,150)	-40%	2240	85.7
The Gangs of New York	Miramax	4.5 (2,070)	-28%	2170	61.3
Maid in Manhattan	Sony	3.7 (1,720)	-40%	2171	89
Antwone Fisher	Searchlight	3.2 (3,160)	-30%	1006	14.7
25th Hour	BV	2.8 (5,730)	-22%	490	7.6
My Big Fat Greek Wedding	IFC	2.3 (1,980)	-14%	1161	233.9
Narc	Par	2.2 (2,710)	-34%	822	6.5
Adaptation	Sony	2.1 (3,760)	-35%	564	12.2
The Wild Thornberrys	Par	2.0 (970)	-50%	2061	37.6
Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets	WB	1.7 (1,600)	-45%	1077	257.7
Drumline	Fox	1.6 (1,430)	-55%	1125	53.5
The Pianist	Focus/TVA	1.5 (5,740)	19%	258	4.2
The Lion King (Large Format)	BV	1.2 (18,480)	5%	66	8.7
Die Another Day	MGM	1.1 (1,100)	-48%	975	157.7
The Hot Chick	BV	.61 (920)	-73%	666	33.6
Star Trek: Nemesis	Par	.59 (580)	-59%	1022	42.6
- -
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)		$144.10	-	-	-
% Change (Last Year)		-2%	--	-	-
% Change (Last Week)		11%	--		-
-
-
Talk to Her	Sony Classics	.38 (5,370)	-22%	71</