2006 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Edwin Pereyra]

How little or big a film does at the box office should not be used as a gauge as to its quality or lack thereof.

~Edwin

 

[Tim Glover]

Well, I understand all that guys...just look at Independence Day. I was just thinking how well recieved Bruce Almighty appeared to be. Alot of buzz around it's release and made mega $$. Dick & Jane kind of fell under the radar with Narnia and Kong...and critics were not too kind.

Thats all I was trying to convey. :b

 

[Shawn_KE]

Sometimes true.

The Producers remake, box office flop, 50% rotten at that tomato site yet is up for several Golden Globe awards?????

Compared it to a film in the same category, Walk The Line walked all over The Producers in every single area. Made money as is well received as well.

 

[Edwin Pereyra]

That would be the exception rather than the rule. Besides not all GG nominees are created equal. At times, a weaker movie gets that last slot or benefits from a very good awards campaign.

As much as there is a disconnect, at times, between critically acclaimed films vs. public reception, the opposite is also true - i.e. a film can be critically panned but it would have a very good audience reception.

~Edwin

 

[TerryRL]

Friday Estimates

#1 "Underworld: Evolution" $10.5 million
#2 "Glory Road" $2.5 million ($21.4 million) 41% Friday-to-Friday drop
#3 "Last Holiday" $2.3 million ($19.6 million) 36% Friday-to-Friday drop
#4 "Brokeback Mountain" $2.16 million ($36.4 million) 36% Friday-to-Friday increase
#5 "Hoodwinked" $2.10 million ($20.3 million) 21% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "Fun with Dick and Jane" $1.7 million ($97.3 million) 31% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "End of the Spear" $1.45 million
#8 "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" $1.40 million ($267.0 million) 40% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Hostel" $1.3 million ($39.7 million) 57% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "The New World" $1.2 million

 

[Joel C]

Surprisingly strong start for Underworld; I guess the DVDs have done their job bringing new fans to the franchise. Looks like they'll be making #3.

 

[Brian Sheffield]

After seeing part 2, I dont see anywhere for a third installment to go. All the questions were answered.

 

[Cory S.]

Prequel instead of sequel. That's the talk. Glad that it got off to a strong start.

 

[DavidPla]

I'm so surprised by the small drop of "Hoodwinked". It goes with my surprise by the large opening of "Chicken Little". To me, the animation and story for both looked terrible. Is it true that ANY CGI Animated Movie is automatically a hit? Is it the most full proof genre at the moment? I don't think there has been one flat out bomb yet and they all seem to hold up weekend after weekend.

 

[ChrisBEA]

I'm actually glad to see it doing well. I had been so ready to write it off based on the awful looking commercials. Then I saw it, and it turned out to be a lot better and a lot more clever than I was expecting it to be. For a low budget CG film, it works, at least for me. On the other hand, Chicken Little was pretty bad.

 

[Malcolm R]

Last summer's "Valiant" was a bomb, total gross about $20M.

"Hoodwinked" also added more than 600 theaters this week.

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

#1 "Underworld: Evolution" $27.6 million
#2 "Hoodwinked" $11.0 million ($29.3 million) -10%
#3 "Glory Road" $9.13 million ($28.0 million) -32%
#4 "Last Holiday" $9.10 million ($26.3 million) -29%
#5 "Brokeback Mountain" $7.8 million ($42.1 million) +35%
#6 "Fun with Dick and Jane" $6.1 million ($101.7 million) -30%
#7 "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" $6.0 million ($271.6 million) -39%
#8 "End of the Spear" $4.7 million
#9 "Hostel" $4.3 million ($42.7 million) -57%
#10 "The New World" $4.2 million ($4.4 million)

"Underworld: Evolution" led the field this weekend as the top ten was up nearly 15% compared to this point last year when "Are We There Yet?" hit theaters. This weekend was also up 15% compared to the frame in 2004 when "Along Came Polly" opened.

'Evolution' took in more than $27 million this weekend, earning the fourth biggest opening ever for the month of January. The film trails the debuts of the "Star Wars" Special Edition ($35.9 million), "Black Hawk Down" ($28.6 million), and "Along Came Polly" ($27.7 million). The film's per-theater average of $8,606 (from a whopping 3,207 locations) was the best of the top ten.

'Evolution', from Sony and Screen Gems, bettered the $21.7 million debut of its predecessor "Underworld", which went on to earn $51.9 million during its run in late 2003. If 'Evolution' goes on to earn more than $60 million, expect the studio to greenlight a sequel (prequel).

"Hoodwinked" took the second slot this weekend as it was off by a meager 10% this weekend (representing the second best hold of the top ten) and has so far tallied just over $29 million. The CG animated comedy from the Weinstein Co. looks to be headed for a final mark in the area of $60-$70 million.

Disney's "Glory Road" was off a very modest 32% this week and has brought in $28 million since its release. A final mark in the neighborhood of $55 million is now expected.

Paramount's "Last Holiday" also had a solid hold as it took only a 29% dip in business. With more than $26 million in the bank so far, this one also seems headed for a final mark of about $50-$55 million.

Focus Features' "Brokeback Mountain" makes its debut in the top five this weekend as it pulled in close to $8 million, representing a massive 35% bump in business. The film, which won four Golden Globes last Monday night, added 513 more locations to its theater count, putting it at 1,196 theaters total. The heavy Oscar favorite's average of $6,548 was the second best of the top ten.

'Brokeback' has tallied just over $42 million and with the announcement of the Oscar nods a little more than a week away, expect this one to continue its leggy ways well into the spring, especially if it captures the Best Picture Oscar, which many now believe is pretty much a lock.

Sony's "Fun with Dick and Jane" became the studio's first $100 million-plus earner since last February's "Hitch". 'Dick and Jane' also became the 10th $100 million performer for star Jim Carrey out of his last 16 films. 'Dick and Jane' looks headed for a final tally in the area of $120 million.

Disney's 'The Chronicles of Narnia' fell off by 39% this weekend as it continues to show strong legs. The Disney blockbuster has so far tallied more than $271 million, putting it at #28 all-time behind "Meet the Fockers" ($279.2 million). This one will top out with more than $290 million in the bank. Worldwide, the film has passed the $600 million plateau, it now sits at $614.2 million.

Rocky Mountain Pictures' "End of the Spear" debuted with $4.7 million this weekend. The $10 million film should end up earning its production budget back.

Lions Gate's "Hostel" took a steep 57% hit in business and has pulled in close to $43 million since its release. New Line's "The New World" rounds out the top ten. The movie brought in $4.2 million from its modest 811 theaters, giving it an average of $5,240 (the third best of the top ten). The $30 million film may have a hard time earning back its production budget.

Fresh from winning three Golden Globes on Monday night, Fox's "Walk the Line" passed the century mark this weekend. The Oscar hopeful (which many see as a lock to win the Best Actress Oscar for star Reese Witherspoon) has so far tallied more than $102 million. With "Fun with Dick and Jane" also passing the century mark this weekend, 2005 has now seen 19 releases earn more than $100 million.

Next weekend will see the wide releases of "Annapolis" (Disney), "Big Momma's House 2" (Fox), and "Nanny McPhee" (Universal). All three should have solid debuts as they challenge 'Evolution' for the top spot at the box office. The industry is also hoping that business continues to out-perform last year's marks.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

Final Fantasy was a dud. It IS hard to find many outright CG bombs, though...

 

[mattCR]

Kong leaves the top 10.

 

[DavidPla]

Wasn't it a hit in England before coming to North America though?

 

[Robert Ringwald]

People also assume a connection between the good ones and the not so good ones.

Example, an assumption that Chicken Little was from the same people as Shrek, Shrek 2, Finding Nemo, Toy Story, etc. etc.

Those were all HUGE hits with audiences... except two were dreamworks, and the others, while released by Disney, were not produced by the same company. Most people don't realize this, and assume anything animated or CGI is Disney.

I remember a debate in one of my college classes over whether or not Anastasia was Disney or FOX...

Point is, people see ads for a CGI animated film and automatically associate it with Toy Story, Finding Nemo, and Shrek.

My guess is that Valiant didn't get too much of a strong marketing push.

 

[Shawn.F]

I think Valiant was also a domestic pickup for the Disney company. According to IMDB, it had opened in the UK back in March of last year.

 

[Adam_S]

Actually I've found 'normal' people to be very good at picking out the difference between Pixar Dreamworks and Disney. In my experience people know that Shrek movies come from a different studio than Disney and they know that Incredibles/Nemo/Toy Stoy etc is Pixar which is the 'better' part of or better than Disney.

I agree that people get hazy with releases like Valiant.

If you go back to the 90s and Disney's dominance of the animation field then yeah, most people were confused about Anastasia, Thumbelina, We're Back etc as Disney or something else.

 

[Colin Jacobson]

No, it didn't. Disney basically just dumped it into theaters without much emphasis. They put all their muscle behind Chicken Little. It's similar to 2000 when they ignored Emperor's New Groove and publicized 102 Dalmatians instead. (The difference is that Dalmatians tanked while Groove overachieved; here Little indeed made much more money than Valiant...)

 

[Adam_S]

Where Disney really dropped the marketing ball this year was with Howl's moving Castle, a film that will be one of the very top worldwide grossers of the year but ONLY made 2.5% of that in the United States, that's pathetic, and it's a movie that easily lent itself to McDonalds toys, merchandising and broad, summer movie appeal. With the exceptional dub they did it's incredible that they didn't try to give it a normal marketing push, most people would never have a clue it's not a normal disney movie or even that its originally a foreign film.