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..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
October 29, 2005
Weekend Estimates
Dueling Sequels
The weekend movie going edge was serrated as Saw II sliced its way through the competition to an estimated $31.3 million. Its closest competition was also cut from sequel cloth but the masked avenger of The Legend of Zorro trailed in the dust with $16.4 million. The frame also featured two other national debuts that propelled the weekend to a jot more than $100 million. While that boosted the box office by about 17% from the immediate prior frame it remained marginally behind the gross of last year’s comparable frame.
The blade of choice provided a telling comparison for the top two ticket items. The sequel to Saw once again underlined that any time of year is Halloween at the box office. The original opened to $18 million but ancillary exposure was excellent as its near double second encounter demonstrates. For a significant portion of the viewing audience there’s little question that cheap, quick thrills have tremendous appeal.
The latest giant screen Zorro had a more difficult second encounter. Audiences were more skeptical about embracing what appeared to be a reworking of the 1998 film that debuted to $22.5 million. The film had better response international of $27 million from 50 territories including a potent $5.8 million debut in France. The original was also more potent overseas grossing $150 million to domestic’s $95 million tally. Other significant foreign grosses included $3.3 million in Britain, $2.8 million in Spain, $1.4 million for China and $1 million in Russia. Mexico’s box office was $1.4 million.
Weekend attendance reflected strength rather than length at a time when theater owners are feeling the pinch of declining box office. Returnees from the recently concluded Show East convention were generally skittish about the product on view at Orlando with the prime exception being the Johnny Cash bio Walk the Line. A year ago the first Saw ranked third overall with a gross better than The Legend of Zorro and that comparison has been lost on movie exhibitors.
The fair results for the more adult appeal Prime and The Weather Man was troublesome in light of fears that the “over 25s” have largely abandoned going to the multiplex. Prime bowed in third spot with $6.4 million while the inclement Nicolas Cage vehicle charted sixth with $4.2 million. Though the fourth Harry Potter looms large, the season has a preponderance toward quality fare with limited appeal to the dominant younger crowd.
The most resilient of last weekend’s debs was the family film Dreamer with a 32% dip while the more demanding North Country dipped 44% and Doom plunged by 75%. Still there’s little question that in major urban areas pedigree movies are an enormous draw as evidenced by the on-going strength of Capote and Good Night, and Good Luck. The latter film expands to more than 1,000 screens next weekend with faint prospects of seeing its per theater average remaining strong.
Among debuts and expansions in niche play, G _ a modern urban take on The Great Gatsby _ registered a torrid $1.2 million following limited exposure in regional play. Additional screens for Shopgirl and Kiss Kiss Bang Bang posted modest upturns while the ethnic appeal El Vacilon had a sizeable boost without the addition of new playdates.
Best of the new entries was the Palestinian Paradise Now that premiered at four venues to roughly $45,000. There was also excellent response for the reissue of 1975’s The Passenger that grossed more than $24,000 on two screens but the Hong Kong horror trilogy Three … Extremes limped to $31,000 from 19 locations and the documentary profile New York Doll was just OK with a $17,000 gross from five venues.
Weekend Estimates - October 27-29, 2005
Title Saw II 31.3 (10,620) - 2949 31.3 The Legend of Zorro 16.4 (4,670) - 3520 16.4 Prime 6.4 (3,510) - 1829 6.5 Dreamer 6.2 (2,500) -32% 2491 17.5 Wallace & Gromit: Curse of Were-R 4.5 (1,540) -47% 2935 49.9 The Weather Man 4.2 (2,770) - 1510 4.2 Doom 3.9 (1,290) -75% 3042 22.7 North Country 3.6 (1,400) -44% 2555 12.1 The Fog 3.3 (1,280) -50% 2587 25.5 Flightplan 2.7 (1,520) -43% 1766 81.2 Elizabethtown 2.4 (1,130) -57% 2137 22.7 Good Night, and Good Luck 2.0 (7,240) -13% 272 7.2 In Her Shoes 1.8 (1,260) -55% 1402 29.3 A History of Violence 1.3 (1,320) -50% 1011 28.5 G 1.2 (2,510) - 495 1.9 Capote 1.0 (6,520) 64% 155 3.4 The Corpse Bride .92 (780) -52% 1176 51.9 The Gospel .71 (1,210) -51% 588 15.1 Two for the Money .66 (1,050) -73% 629 22.2 Stay .51 (300) -77% 1684 3.4 Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) $81.27 - - - % Change (Last Year) -1% - - - % Change (Last Week) 17% - - - Also Debuting/Expanding Shopgirl .45 (10,760) 96% 42 0.76 El Vacilon: The Movie .35 (12,890) 30% 27 0.67 Kiss Kiss Bang Bang .33 (6,400) 84% 52 0.59 Paradise Now 44,500 (11,120) - 4 0.04 Three … Extremes 31,300 (1,650) - 19 0.03 The Passenger (reissue) 24,500 (12,220) - 2 0.02 New York Doll 16,900 (3,380) - 5 0.02 Top Domestic Grosses - Jan 1 - Oct 27, 2005
Star Wars: Episode III
Fox
380,270,577
War of the Worlds 234,079,816