..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Grimm and Grimmer
August 28, 2005
Weekend Estimates
Abstinence and a good hearty laugh prevailed at the box office as The 40 Year Old Virgin maintained its stamina with an estimated $16.6 million. It was followed by the debut of The Brothers Grimm that registered an OK $14.7 million but two other national bows were commercial disappointments. The horror programmer The Cave ranked sixth with $5.9 million and the American indie Undiscovered eked out a little more than $700,000. Incoming limited and niche fare was largely undistinguished.
While summer 2005 has seen a handful of blockbuster successes, the season's major surprises have been the raunchy comedies Wedding Crashers and Virgin. Both films mix of the clever and profane found wider appeal than anticipated and the current chart topper saw its gross slip a mere 22% in its second weekend. Though Labor Day looms, the movie should segue nicely into the fall and wind up with better than a $100 million box office.
Critical response to The Brothers Grimm was mixed and its oft-delayed release had ominous indications of box office catastrophe. While the film is still likely to be unprofitable its opening gross was at least respectable though apt to see rapid erosion and an ultimate tally in the neighborhood of $40 million.
Unlike such recent scare fare as Red Eye and The Skeleton Key, it was not third time lucky for The Cave that entered the marketplace with $5.9 million. The results were considerably more dire for Undiscovered that appeared to be a late summer addition rushed into theaters with minimal ad. Its $720,000 gross indicates a quick vanishing act from screens.
The frame once again saw overall business dip below $100 million with a final overall tally around $94 million. It represents a 17% decline from last weekend and 9% slippage from 2004. Last year's box office was led by the $18 million debut of the Chinese actioner Hero. Additionally, domestic box office climbed to $6 billion on Sunday or about 20 days slower than last year's pace. Annual box office revenue are now off 9.5% from 2004 and admissions are well into the double digits.
The summertime blues were more like the summertime blahs with even such seasonal exceptions as March of the Penguins and The Aristocrats appearing to be losing steam as vacations and recreational time rapidly evaporates. One distribution exec sighed that he was happy to see the season end but may find himself confronting an equally rigorous challenge as the fall release slate appears to be over subscribed and likely fraught with commercial casualties.
Among more limited new releases, the results were charitably soft. The comic Dirty Deeds barely registered with about a $70,000 gross from 64 engagements and the whimsical The Baxter was little more than a titter with a $35,000 tally from 47 screens. Following last year's success of A Day Without a Mexican, Televisia failed to find favor with Hispanic auds with its Matando Cabos grossing roughly $61,000 at 85 venues.
More encouraging was the Belgium import Memory of a Killer that cashed in $42,500 from six playdates and a fair return of just shy of $25,000 in Quebec for La Neuvaine.
Weekend Estimates - August 26-28, 2005
Title The 40 Year Old Virgin The Brothers Grimm Red Eye Four Brothers Wedding Crashers The Cave March of the Penguins The Skeleton Key Valiant The Dukes of Hazzard Sky High Charlie and the Chocolate Factory Broken Flowers Deuce Bigalo: European Gigolo Must Love Dogs The Great Raid Undiscovered War of the Worlds Fantastic Four The Aristocrats Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) % Change (Last Year) % Change (Last Week) Also Debuting/Expanding Grizzly Man Dirty Deeds Matando Cabos Memory of a Killer The Baxter La Neuvaine Top Limited Releases: To August 25, 2005
Mad Hot Ballroom Par Classics 7,336,832 Aliens of the Deep BV 6,915,100 Broken Flowers Focus 6,891,433 Space Station Imax 6,670,684 
Bride and Prejudice Mrmx 6,605,592 Millions Fox Searchlight 6,580,509 Ladies in Lavender IDP/Odeon 6,174,251 Downfall Newmarket 5,509,040 Beyond the Sea Lions Gate 5,307,776 Howl's Moving Castle BV 4,628,451 Ong Bak: The Thai Warrior Magnolia/Alliance 4,563,167 A Very Long Engagement WIP 4,396,424 Aurore Alliance 4,362,069 Being Julia Sony Class/Think 4,221,165 C.R.A.Z.Y. TVA 4,129,373 Wild Safari 3-D nWave 4,069,778
Enron: The Smartest Guys … Room Magnolia 4,037,510 Kinsey Fox Searchlight 3,929,716 Melinda and Melinda Fox Searchlight 3,826,280
Bad Education Sony Class/Sevil 3,740,716 * no more than 588 playdates Domestic Market Share: To August 25, 2005