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..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
October 23, 2005
Weekend Estimates
It Tolls for Thee
The appropriately titled Doom led the weekend box office chug with an estimated $15.5 million in another lackluster frame for movie attendance. The weekend featured three other national debuts with only the family friendly horse saga Dreamer posting respectable returns. Conversely there was more encouraging response to such niche fare as Shopgirl and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang that each bowed on eight screens and raked up $20,000 plus theater averages.
As the nation's theater operators head for ShowEast in Orlando this week, they can minimally expect soggy weather. Hopefully, the studio screening schedule can provide the sort of sunshine that has been absent from multiplex sales for most of 2005. This weekend's tally of slightly less than $90 million provided a slim 2% box office boost from seven days earlier but lagged behind last year's gross by 16%. The year's overall cume edged past $7 billion on Sunday. In 2004, that level was reached one month earlier and nothing less than a miracle can close the 30-day gap in the next 10 weeks.
Doom, inspired by a video arcade game, muscled into the marketplace with expectations that fell short of a $20 million projection. Friday's approximate $5.8 million tally remained consistent on Saturday but the picture had no potent competition.
The session featured premieres of two films inspired by true stories. The second ranked Dreamer provided a turf tale of Rockyesque proportions that trotted to $9.3 million. It was a fair result that nonetheless evinced a lack of breeder stakes. The considerable more adult North Country - a saga of sexual discrimination in the workplace - received mixed reviews as it threw its hat into the award derby. Its $6.2 million return was disappointing and positive word-of-mouth will be crucial in sustaining both its commercial and contender status.
Virtually flying below the radar was the low budget drama Stay. It grossed a near moribund $2.1 million with all the ear markings of a movie being quietly buried by a major during a busy release period.
Holdover titles provided a paucity of trends in shifting audience tastes. Last weekend freshman The Fog was uncharacteristically buoyant as it dipped 39% rather than the 50% plus drop typical for horror fare. There were also strong holds for both Flightplan and A History of Violence and word-of-mouth appears to be finally benefiting the Wallace & Gromit feature. However, both Elizabethtown and In Her Shoes are rapidly losing ground along with a clutch of genre entries.
The slow roll outs of Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck continue to return effective results with respective 68% and 86% box office hikes this past weekend. The frame anomaly was the religious-themed The Work and the Glory that debuted in Utah early in 2005 and stepped out in a handful of markets with a positive result of $740,000. Less effective was the independent Kids in America that sputtered to a $600 average from 701 engagements.
Dogged attempts to develop a Hispanic audience continued with the release of El Vacilon, a low brow comedy starring popular radio personalities. Its $250,000 gross from 30 screens was impressive but one suspects it has limited expansion prospects. There were fair returns for the documentary The Protocols of Zion of $20,300 from five venues while National Lampoon's Barely Legal was adjectively challenged with $14,700 from 20 screens.
Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, a droll satire of hard boiled Mickey Spillane pulp detective fare, came in blazing with about $173,000 from eight chambers and Steve Martin's Shopgirl, adapted from his short novel, ka-chinged to $230,000; also in eight venues.
Weekend Estimates - October 21-23, 2005
Title Doom Dreamer Wallace & Gromit: Curse of We The Fog North Country Elizabethtown Flightplan In Her Shoes A History of Violence Two for the Money Domino Good Night, and Good Luck Stay The Corpse Bride Waiting … The Gospel The Greatest Game Ever Playe Serenity The Work and the Glory The 40 Year Old Virgin Just Like Heaven Capote Proof Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films)