..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Satisfaction!
August 21, 2005
Weekend Finals
Sex and sleep deprivation provided the utz in the weekend box office as debuts of The 40 Year-Old Virgin and Red Eye led the box office charts. Virgin was on top with an estimated $20.7 million with the psychological thriller not very far behind with $16.8 million. The freshman combo couldn't quite provide the firepower to top last year's performance level and certainly weren't assisted by weak openings of Valiant, Supercross or a handful of limited releases.
Overall weekend business approached about $112 million for a 7% drop from last weekend. It was also off by 4% from 2004.
A great deal has been made of summer's clutch of R-rated comedies that have run the gamut of commercial powerhouses to abject failures. The 40 Year-Old Virgin minimally deserves to rank on the plus side with initial response indicating it will likely hold well next weekend. Meanwhile, Wedding Crashers advanced to $178 million and will shortly exceed Pretty Woman as the top grossing comedy in that classification in box office but not admissions.
Red Eye bowed with comparable power to last weekend The Skeleton Key and can expect a similarly sharp box office erosion. Nonetheless it was a good first encounter for a nail biter in a season when genre fare of a chilling nature has been generally disappointing.
Disney's acquisition of the British-produced animated Valiant was a distant reminder of Chicken Run. It grossed an unimpressive $6.2 million but will likely find comparably more potent response in home video.
There was plenty of dust and not much substance in the motorbike saga Supercross that emerged with $1.4 million (following a $680,000 from Wednesday and Thursday). Its five-day gross was roughly what the producers and distributors had hoped to generate on its opening day.
Among holdover titles, March of the Penguins added about 40 theaters and experienced nearly consistent business from the prior frame. Its cume is just shy of $50 million and its virtual uniqueness of subject and genre has kept pundits busy readjusting final projections. A $75 million to $80 million tally is quite feasible and it could climb higher if a school program can be implemented in the fall.
The continuing expansion of critical fave Broken Flowers remained potent with a 27% boost to $2.2 million. Unlike Lost in Translation, the new film is breaking a tad early to capitalize on year-end kudos but has little competition (apart from The Constant Gardener) among releases targeted at an adult crowd in the next month. The Aristocrats nearly doubled its exposure to 172 theaters and also held well but still seems confined to urban and upscale audiences.
Films opening in limited and niche situations generally failed to impress. Barsaat on the Bollywood circuit had a lackluster return of $46,600 from 25 venues while the Korean import Sympathy for Mr. Vengeance averaged a dull average of almost $2,500 from three screens.
In Quebec, the French comic import Boudu was just fair with $36,500 in 10 situations. Single screen preems ranged from a very good $10,100 for the quirky Spanish crime comedy El Crimen Perfecto and the documentary The Untold Story of Emmett Till with $8,100 to barely passable response for the non-fiction Reel Paradise of $2,900.
Weekend Finals - August 19-21, 2005
Title Weekend % Change Theaters Cume The 40-Year Old Virgin 21,422,815 - 2845 21,422,815 Red Eye 16,167,662 - 3079 16,167,662 Four Brothers 12,487,537 -41% 2649 43,118,074 Wedding Crashers 8,002,613 -32% 2920 177,642,603 The Skeleton Key 7,725,495 -52% 2774 30,448,770 March of the Penguins 6,507,092 -5% 2104 49,119,475 The Dukes of Hazzard 5,978,292 -54% 3404 69,070,528 Valiant 5,914,722 - 2014 5,914,722 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 4,434,453 -40% 2575 192,638,088 Sky High 4,034,895 -36% 2145 50,862,532 Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo 3,807,221 -60% 3127 17,381,752 Broken Flowers 2,349,001 37% 390 5,977,086 Must Love Dogs 2,241,228 -51% 1809 39,028,308 The Great Raid 1,820,664 -46% 920 6,549,818 Supercross 1,330,520 - 1621 2,010,962 War of the Worlds 1,057,340 -51% 713 230,614,825 Fantastic Four 1,032,450 -56% 879 150,668,328 The Aristocrats 666,449 -23% 170 2,717,241 Batman Begins 632,369 -40% 397 202,285,638 Stealth 558,334 -74% 707 31,200,155 Mr. & Mrs. Smith 458,038 -44% 416 183,386,949 The Island 402,257 -69% 451 35,255,603 Hustle & Flow 359,783 -63% 420 21,425,415 L'Horloge biologique 358,721 -19% 81 2,017,133 Star Wars: Epi. III - Revenge of the Sith 327,011 -1% 307 378,977,117 The Bad News Bears 308,059 -67% 425 32,270,993 Grizzly Man 295,911 10% 51 706,915 Madagascar 251,782 -24% 363 190,252,852 The Devil's Rejects 239,787 -23% 196 16,901,126 The Longest Yard 235,970 -30% 284 157,335,993 Bewitched 224,417 26% 231 62,252,415 Mangal Pandya - The Rising 185,688 -65% 63 787,027 Cinderella Man 143,865 -36% 264 61,345,700 2046 135,343 47% 29 445,805 Herbie: Fully Loaded 133,512 -39% 201 64,281,751 Wild Safari 3D 130,658 -9% 17 3,950,871 Mad Hot Ballroom 120,553 -32% 89 7,275,299 Junebug 119,637 -4% 29 447,140 Adventures of Sharkboy and Lavagirl 116,409 -28% 229 38,943,250 The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants 114,603 -29% 208 38,826,208 Ladies in Lavender 99,759 -23% 92 6,100,390 C.R.A.Z.Y. 98,981 10% 36 4,056,480 Aurore 97,279 -6% 54 4,303,341 Me and You and Everyone We Know 97,234 -43% 90 3,369,700 Asylum 86,509 139% 39 140,393 Crash 85,460 -39% 131 52,931,832 Aliens of the Deep 73,097 65% 23 6,863,625 Space Station 71,331 3% 7 63,063,659 Rebound 65,446 -41% 129 16,708,656 Murderball 65,065 -52% 65 1,254,038 Monster-in-Law 58,410 -42% 106 82,820,167 Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk 58,400 -8% 12 10,122,281 Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey 54,870 -4% 10 9,313,627 Barsaat 48,759 25 48,759 Saraband 34,317 -31% 24 478,554 Saint Ralph 33,871 -58% 27 581,084 Dark Water 32,848 -48% 59 25,029,897 Happy Endings 32,592 -59% 38 1,245,996 T-Rex: Back to the Cretacious 31,747 -33% 5 51,894,116 The Perfect Man 29,590 -55% 65 16,459,306 Land of the Dead 29,226 -33% 57 20,674,800 Boudu 28,108 - 10 28,108 Pretty Persuasion 26,654 -55% 9 113,794 Last Days 26,527 -58% 22 424,119 The Beat My Heart Skipped 23,072 -53% 19 839,100 Kicking and Screaming 21,461 -40% 53 52,831,364 Balzac & Little Chinese Seamstress 20,843 -10% 3 116,864 Howl's Moving Castle 19,386 -22% 25 4,612,726 Bugs! 19,168 -20% 7 16,320,589 My Date with Drew 18,759 -48% 41 202,492 Pinocchio 3000 17,858 -8% 20 177,173
Weekend Estimates - August 19-21, 2005
Title The 40 Year-Old Virgin Red Eye Four Brothers Wedding Crashers