..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Three Day Finals
Beating Around the Bush
The tinder mercies of Fahrenheit 9/11 ignited an estimated $22.4 million to take command of weekend movie going and flame a box office upturn. There was also strong initial business for the gender bending White Chicks that ranked second with $20.1 million, a fair 5th place finish for The Notebook and excellent response in Quebec for the regional favorite Elvis Gratton XXX.
Fahrenheit 9/11 considerably exceeded industry expectations that pegged its opening weekend between $12 million and $15 million. The free-wheeling examination of the Bush administration and its invasion of Iraq benefited from the almost daily news coverage that embraced Disney's non-distribution edict to Miramax, winning the top prize at Cannes and endless attacks and support pieces on its content. In the debate regarding controversy and box office, the verdict was decidedly positive.
The decision to market and distribute the film as one would any mainstream movie had several interesting results. Not unexpectedly, its best engagements were in major metropolitan areas including Manhattan's Empire 25, the Metreon in San Francisco, Montreal's Forum, the Arclight in Los Angeles and the Georgetown in D.C that each generated more than $100,000 weekends. The other end of the spectrum was largely concentrated in smaller centers in the Midwest, Canada and the Southwest. More intriguing was the picture's 4% B.O. decline on Saturday that indicated the sort of opening day frenzy one's apt to get from blockbuster titles rather than specialized fare.
The last time a non-fiction feature topped the charts was back in December 1987 when Eddie Murphy Raw bowed to $9.1 million. However, the recent surge of documentaries in theaters has been significant theatrically with 20 titles grossing in excess of $1 million in 2003 that had a collective gross of about $100 million. Fahrenheit 9/11 is the 15th non-fiction feature to gross more than $1 million in 2004 and its weekend boosts overall revenues for docs to roughly $75 million.
The three other films that debuted Friday appealed to a diverse and different set of viewers and fueled the frame to about $150 million. It represented an upbeat 9% boost from last weekend and was a buoyant 22% ahead of 2003 weekend business.
The Wayans' brothers White Chicks checked in two days early and rang up $7.5 million prior to entering the weekend fray. It was expected to be the frame leader with a possible gross as high as $25 million. Exit polls had several encouraging signs including a better than anticipated non-ethnic audience of 65%. The male/female split was 50/50 both off-screen and on.
The tear soaked The Notebook grossed $13.3 million and engagement averages of $5,770. Its business dipped 12% on Saturday from opening day underlying its appeal to an older distaff crowd. And if it conforms to past trends, the film should generate strong mid-week box office.
The frame's major disappointment was the family friendly Two Brothers that finished 9th with $6.2 million. The adventure of two tiger cubs in Southeast Asia circa 1900 failed to get its core audience with a very modest Saturday upturn of 9%.
The third outing for Quebec's comic screen everyman Elvis Gratton proved commercially potent with a gross of about $1 million CDN. The prior outing, released in 1999, ranks seventh among Quebec movies at the box office with a gross of $4 million.
Continuing titles generally held well with last weekend's champ Dodgeball beating the 50% tumbles experienced by recent seasonal releases with a 39% decline and The Terminal posting a comparatively sturdier 29% drop from its opener.
The specialized arena largely steered clear of the Fahrenheit/911 tsunami with few new openers and certainly no major titles. Palm's Time of the Wolf garnered an OK $8,200 from two venues but the most significant activity were expansions of Napoleon Dynamite and Control Room. The former, an indie comedy premiered at Sundance, expanded from 18 to 73 locations and maintained a very good screen average of $5,220.
Control Room, a documentary focusing on the Al Jazeera network and the opening days of the Iraq invasion, was girding for major buffeting from the Michael Moore feature. And while it was unquestionably rocked it down not capsize, grossing a still healthy $150,000 from 72 screens.
Weekend Finals - June 25-27, 2004
Title Fahrenheit 9/11 23,920,637 868 24,078,959 White Chicks 19,676,748 2726 27,180,139 Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story 18,787,419 -38% 3020 67,458,145 The Notebook 13,464,745 2303 13,464,745 The Terminal 13,135,148 -31% 2914 41,040,124 Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban 11,247,412 -38% 3404 211,537,548 Shrek 2 10,216,452 -27% 2937 396,782,535 Garfield 7,526,987 -34% 2880 56,297,265 Two Brothers 6,144,160 2175 6,144,160 The Stepford Wives 5,056,343 -42% 2437 48,861,783 The Day After Tomorrow 4,755,505 -41% 2215 175,626,913 The Chronicles of Riddick 4,531,765 -52% 2443 51,151,705 Around the World in 80 Days 4,274,941 -44% 2801 18,281,896 Troy 957,313 -46% 711 130,906,716 Saved! 565,151 -54% 456 7,932,238 Elvis Gratton XXX 551,432 99 910,713 Napoleon Dynamite 388,112 100% 73 953,215 Super Size Me 383,178 -38% 190 9,512,152 Raising Helen 359,663 -72% 409 35,836,206 Van Helsing 294,840 -42% 351 118,559,420 Nascar: The Imax Experience 267,702 1% 52 13,982,427 Mean Girls 256,247 -54% 291 83,478,583 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed 208,461 426% 259 82,954,771 Lakshya 160,360 -58% 57 627,360 Control Room 153,455 -44% 72 963,088 Man on Fire 152,467 -38% 194 77,001,840 Home on the Range 134,494 345% 262 49,204,780 Bugs! 130,653 -12% 32 9,812,348 Breakin' All the Rules 117,842 149% 66 11,977,420 Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk 116,456 -2% 15 6,773,432 Soul Plane 114,417 -62% 142 13,922,211 Deewar 111,423 41 111,423 Space Station 108,456 24% 16 51,740,628 Hellboy 104,413 -17% 137 59,431,508 The Story of the Weeping Camel 85,515 -25% 26 358,489 Kill Bill Vol. 2 82,793 -41% 100 65,535,505 The Punisher 77,641 752% 97 33,571,379 The Mother 71,091 -19% 44 503,487 13 Going on 30 68,483 -21% 85 56,044,241 Coffee and Cigarettes 68,009 -42% 40 1,711,998 Johnson Family Vacation 62,431 -32% 74 30,892,974 Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey 55,484 9% 7 6,836,799 What the #$*! Do We Know 54,136 -3% 18 1,009,711 A Day Without a Mexican 52,509 -54% 34 3,150,317 Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring 52,376 -35% 46 1,986,510 Envy 50,331 87 13,562,325 Hidalgo 47,196 -42% 96 67,130,489 New York Minute 44,903 -65% 52 14,018,364 Ella Enchanted 44,204 -47% 115 22,696,474 Facing Windows 41,455 15% 13 98,901 50 First Dates 40,428 -50% 83 120,870,628 The Corporation 38,582 -32% 13 1,790,706 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 38,080 -52% 41 34,217,011 The Ladykillers 37,920 -57% 88 39,624,605 Starsky & Hutch 31,715 -34% 82 88,200,225 T-Rex: Back to the Cretacious 30,588 -5% 5 48,410,155 Zatoichi 30,122 -33% 15 148,416 Walking Tall 27,275 -40% 57 46,341,166 The Passion of the Christ 23,567 -44% 90 370,167,453 Bon Voyage 19,943 -50% 30 2,284,747 Baadasssss! 19,468 -33% 31 289,955
Estimates - June 25-27, 2004
Title Fahrenheit 9/11 - 868 22.6 White Chicks - 2726 27.6 Dodgeball: A True Underdog's Story -39% 3020 67.1 The Terminal -29% 2914 41.4 The Notebook - 2303 16.6 Harry Potter & Prisoner of Azkaban -36% 3624 211.8 Shrek 2 -24% 2937 397.1 Garfield -36% 2880 56 Two Brothers - 2175 6.2 The Stepford Wives -39% 2437 49.1 The Day After Tomorrow -46% 2212 175.2 The Chronicles of Riddick -54% 2443 50.9 Around the World in 80 Days -44% 2801 18.2 Troy -43% 711 131 Elvis Gratton XXX - 95 1.1 Saved! -56% 456 7.9 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) - % Change (Last Year) - % Change (Last Week) - Also Debuting/Expanding Napoleon Dynamite 96% 73 0.95 Super Size Me -40% 190 9.5 Control Room -45% 72 0.96 Time of the Wolf 2 0.01 Top Domestic Grosses - Jan 1 - June 24, 2004
Title Shrek 2 386,566,083 The Passion of the Christ 370,143,886 Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaba 200,290,136 The Day After Tomorrow 170,871,408 Troy 129,949,403 Lord of the Rings: Return of King * 122,306,127 50 First Dates 120,830,200 Van Helsing