2005 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[Chris Atkins]

Is Nolan really confirmed for the Batman sequel? I read at another site that it's still note a done deal.

 

[DavidPla]

Being that "Spider-Man" and "X-Men" are newer film franchises, people might opt out of a new "Batman" film having already thought that it's been done so many times before. A Batman film isn't as special as it once was as it was the ONLY superhero film worth seeing at the time. Now is not the case anymore so the event status isn't as large as it once was which makes its Box Office even more amazing, IMO.

 

[TerryRL]

Though Nolan hasn't officially signed the dotted line yet, he, David Goyer and WB brass have met to go over potential storylines for the follow-up to 'Begins' (yes, all of them are dealing with The Joker, as well as bringing in the Harvey Dent character). From what I understand Nolan IS going to helm at least the next two 'Batman' movies. His new contract apparently will be a two-picture deal.

Believe me, WB doesn't want to lose Nolan and a summer 2008 release has already been tentatively set by the studio. Nolan will helm "The Exec" before diving into the next 'Batman' flick. Right now, Nolan, Goyer and the studio are just solidifying the plot, as well as casting the roles of The Joker and Dent.

Nolan will put his John Hancock on the contract "soon" and while he's directing "The Exec", Goyer will be at work on the script and the studio will be busying themselves keeping the budget in the neighborhood of $175 million ($25 million more than the budget for 'Begins').

 

[Tim Glover]

Congrats to Batman Begins for earning over $200 million. Well deserved!

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

#1 "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" $20.5 million
#2 "Red Eye" $16.5 million
#3 "Four Brothers" $13.0 million ($43.6 million) -38%
#4 "Wedding Crashers" $8.2 million ($177.9 million) -30%
#5 "The Skeleton Key" $7.4 million ($30.1 million) -53%
#6 "March of the Penguins" $6.6 million ($48.6 million) -2%
#7 "Valiant" $6.0 million
#8 "The Dukes of Hazzard" $5.7 million ($68.8 million) -55%
#9 "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" $4.5 million ($192.7 million) -38%
#10 "Sky High" $4.0 million ($50.8 million) -36%

"The 40-Year-Old Virgin" topped the box office this weekend with a solid haul of more than $20.5 million. The $26 million comedy from Universal Pictures came in at the high end of the studio's expectations and will probably have a very leggy run in theaters. After having supporting roles in films like "Bruce Almighty" and 'Anchorman', 'Virgin' should do wonders for actor Steve Carell's marketability as a headlining star.

"Red Eye" debuted in the #2 slot this weekend with a tally of $16.5 million. The DreamWorks thriller (which also had a meager cost of $26 million) may or may not have a strong run in theaters, but it did prove that star Rachel McAdams could open a movie as the headlining star.

Paramount's "Four Brothers" had a solid hold this weekend as it was off by a moderate 38%. The film has so far earned $43.6 million and is headed for a final mark in the neighborhood of $80 million, making it a solid hit for the studio.

New Line's "Wedding Crashers" continues to show fantastic legs. The comedy smash has taken in just under $178 million and will soon become only the second R rated comedy to pass the $200 million mark (joining 1984's blockbuster "Beverly Hills Cop").

Universal's "The Skeleton Key" took a 53 hit in business this weekend and has so far tallied just over $30 million. A final mark of more than $50 million is now expected for the thriller.

Once again having the smallest decline of the top ten (only 2%) Warner Independent's "March of the Penguins" continues to pack theaters. The film has so far tallied $48.6 million and looks headed for a final mark of more than $75 million.

Disney's "Valiant" crashed and burned upon its release this weekend. The film will become the first CG animated flop that Disney has released. This should make the meetings with Pixar head Steve Jobs all the more interesting as Disney continues to try to keep the lucrative studio within the Disney ranks.

WB's "The Dukes of Hazzard" fell off another 55% this weekend and saw its total near the $70 million mark. The movie is still on course to top out in the area of $85 million.

WB's hit "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" is cruising toward the double-century mark. The film took a moderate 38% dip and has taken in close to $193 million thus far.

Disney's "Sky High" continues to show strong legs as it took a 36% slide in business this weekend. The film has earned just under $51 million and should top out in the neighborhood of $65-$70 million.

After only a week, Sony's 'Deuce Bigalow' sequel fell out of the top ten with a disastrous 62% hit. This one won't even make it to the $30 million mark. Fox's "Supercross" also crashed and burned this weekend as it debuted with only $1.3 million. Ouch.

Next weekend will see the releases of "The Brothers Grimm" from Miramax, "The Cave" from hit starved Sony, and "Undiscovered from Lions Gate. Expect "The Brothers Grimm" to put up a strong challenge for the top spot.

While the box office was down again compared to last year (3%) and is running about 7% off last year's pace overall, the summer of 2005 will produce five $200 million-plus earners (tying the record mark established in the summer of 2003) compared to the three that did it last summer.

Overall, 2005 has produced 12 $100 million-plus earners compared to the 13 that 2004 had at this same point. 2003 had a whopping 21 films beyond the century mark at this same time (that year eventually produced a record 29 $100 million-plus earners).

Here are the year's top twenty biggest hits thus far...

#1 "Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith" $379.0 million (Lucasfilm/Fox)
#2 "War of the Worlds" $230.6 million (Paramount)
#3 "Batman Begins" $202.2 million (WB)
#4 "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" $192.7 million (WB)
#5 "Madagascar" $190.0 million (DreamWorks)
#6 "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" $183.3 million (Fox)
#7 "Hitch" $179.4 million (Sony)
#8 "Wedding Crashers" $177.9 million (New Line)
#9 "The Longest Yard" $157.1 million (Paramount)
#10 "Fantastic Four" $150.6 million (Fox)
#11 "Robots" $128.1 million (Fox)
#12 "The Pacifier" $133.0 million (Disney)
#13 "Monster-in-Law" $82.8 million (New Line)
#14 "Are We There Yet?" $82.5 million (Sony)
#15 "The Ring Two" $76.2 million (DreamWorks)
#16 "Constantine" $75.5 million (WB)
#17 "Sin City" $74.1 million (Miramax)
#18 "The Interpreter" $72.5 million (Universal)
#19 "The Dukes of Hazzard" $68.8 million (WB)
#20 "Guess Who" $68.7 million (Sony)

 

[Dennis Pagoulatos]

Also, I noticed that ROTS actually was up 5.7% from last week at $350K estimated. It looks like it will squeak past $380 million possibly by Labor Day weekend. Kudos! And it has a solid chance of breaking into the top 10 worldwide box office hits by the end of its run overseas (Japan's final total is the X-factor here).

-Dennis

 

[TerryRL]

This weekend also saw ROTS become only the 15th film in history to earn more than $450 million internationally. Out of the 62 countries the movie debuted in overseas, it is still playing in 27 of them.

It'll be interesting to see if the movie has enough juice left in the tank to become the eleventh film in history to top the $500 million mark in overseas grosses.

Last week saw "Batman Begins" pass the $160.2 million international cume of the first "Batman" film to become the biggest overseas performer of the 'Batman' franchise. 'Begins' has a solid shot at becoming the first 'Batman' flick to top the $200 million mark internationally.

 

[Lou Sytsma]

Awesome!

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

#1 "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" $16.4 million ($48.7 million) -23%
#2 "The Brothers Grimm" $15.0 million
#3 "Red Eye" $10.4 million ($32.6 million) -35%
#4 "Four Brothers" $7.8 million ($55.3 million) -37%
#5 "Wedding Crashers" $6.25 million ($187.7 million) -22%
#6 "The Cave" $6.20 million
#7 "March of the Penguins" $4.5 million ($55.7 million) -29%
#8 "The Skeleton Key" $4.3 million ($37.8 million) -43%
#9 "Valiant" $3.3 million ($11.5 million) -43%
#10 "The Dukes of Hazzard" $3.0 million ($74.3 million) -49%

Universal's "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" repeated as the nation's top grossing film in yet another down period for the box office. Despite the continued slump, 'Virgin' saw only a 23% drop in business this weekend and looks to be headed for a final mark north of the $100 million mark.

The studio is so happy with the performance of the film that they are currently negotiating with star Steve Carell to headline the "Bruce Almighty" sequel, "Evan Almighty". Carell is looking to earn the biggest payday of his career with 'Evan', about $5 million.

Miramax's action/comedy "The Brothers Grimm" debuted in second place this weekend with a decent haul of $15 million. DreamWorks' thriller, "Red Eye", had a solid hold as it fell off by 35%. A final mark in the neighborhood of $60 million is now expected.

Paramount's "Four Brothers" also had a solid hold as it was off a moderate 37%. New Line's "Wedding Crashers" had the smallest decline of the top ten this weekend as it was off by only 22%. The raunchy comedy continues its trek toward the $200 million mark.

Sony's nightmare of a summer continues as "The Cave" earned only $6.2 million this weekend. Expect this one to pull a fast fade in the coming weeks. "March of the Penguins" continues to pack theaters as it took only a 29% hit this weekend.

Universal's "The Skeleton Key" was off a moderate 43% and is headed for a final mark of about $60 million. Disney's "Valiant" was also hit with a 43% dip, but the movie has only earned $11.5 million since its release.

WB's "The Dukes of Hazzard" rounds out the top ten as it took a 49% hit in business. The film has so far tallied $74.3 million.

Next weekend will see five new releases hit theaters. Focus Features' "The Constant Gardner", WB's "A Sound of Thunder", Fox's "The Transporter 2", Miramax's "Underclassman", and MGM/UA's "The Woods" will all attempt to stop 'Virgin' from making it three-in-a-row at #1.

 

[Kevin Grey]

Tons of great holds this weekend. I'm particularly surpised at 'Red Eye'. I haven't seen or read much about it but thrillers typically suffer from some of the biggest declines.

Surprisingly strong start for Brothers Grimm. I'm sure the dropoff will be steep but $15 million is more than I expected. I think it goes along way to demonstrating that Matt Damon has a lot of drawing power even aside from the Bourne movies.

 

[Adam_S]

I think the real story of the summer this year is not the so called slump, but the legs. So many movies this summer had (relatively) low percentage declines of and didn't have massive opening weekends but still grossed a great deal.

 

[Joel C]

Having seen Red Eye, I'm not surprised that it held up so well. It got great reviews and should have good WOM - it was a very fun, taut 85-minute thriller.

 

[Jason Harbaugh]

I was fired up to see Red Eye, but the trailer(s) ruined it for me. Should have just ignored them. I'll wait 4-6 months for the DVD and hopefully forget what I saw.

 

[Todd H]

The Ashlee Simpson vehicle "Undiscovered" opened with just $690,000 in ticket sales.

BTW, congrats to 40 Year Old Virgin. My wife and I haven't laughed so hard at a movie in a long time.

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

(4-day estimates)
#1 "Transporter 2" $20.2 million
#2 "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" $16.5 million ($71.9 million) +1%
#3 "The Constant Gardener" $10.8 million ($12.5 million)
#4 "Red Eye" $9.3 million ($45.3 million) -9%
#5 "The Brothers Grimm" $7.9 million ($27.6 million) -9%
#6 "Four Brothers" $6.4 million ($64.3 million) -18%
#7 "Wedding Crashers" $5.7 million ($195.7 million) -4%
#8 "March of the Penguins" $5.4 million ($63.4 million) -+14%
#9 "The Skeleton Key" $4.0 million ($43.7 million) -10%
#10 "The Cave" $3.7 million ($11.7 million) -39%

(3-day estimates)
#1 "Transporter 2" $16.5 million
#2 "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" $13.1 million ($68.4 million) -19%
#3 "The Constant Gardener" $8.5 million ($10.3 million)
#4 "Red Eye" $7.6 million ($43.6 million) -26%
#5 "The Brothers Grimm" $6.8 million ($26.5 million) -54%
#6 "Four Brothers" $4.9 million ($62.9 million) -36%
#7 "Wedding Crashers" $4.6 million ($194.6 million) -22%
#8 "March of the Penguins" $4.2 million ($62.2 million) -11%
#9 "The Skeleton Key" $3.2 million ($43.0 million) -27%
#10 "The Cave" $2.9 million ($10.9 million) -52%

2005 TOP 20
#1 "Star Wars: Episode III- Revenge of the Sith" (Lucasfilm/Fox) $379.8 million
#2 "War of the Worlds" (Paramount) $232.6 million
#3 "Batman Begins" (BA) $203.2 million
#4 "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" (WB) $201.2 million
#5 "Wedding Crashers" (New Line) $195.7 million
#6 "Madagascar" (DreamWorks) $191.0 million
#7 "Mr. and Mrs. Smith" (Fox) $184.6 million
#8 "Hitch" (Sony) $179.4 million
#9 "The Longest Yard" (Paramount) $157.6 million
#10 "Fantastic Four" (Fox) $152.5 million
#11 "Robots" (Fox) $128.1 million
#12 "The Pacifier" (Disney) $113.0 million
#13 "Monster-in-Law" (New Line) $82.9 million
#14 "Are We There Yet?" (Sony) $82.5 million
#15 "The Dukes of Hazzard" (WB) $77.4 million
#16 "The Ring Two" (DreamWorks) $76.2 million
#17 "Constantine" (WB) $75.5 million
#18 "Sin City" (Miramax) $74.1 million
#19 "The Interpreter" (Universal) $72.5 million
#20 "The 40-Year-Old Virgin" (Universal) $71.9 million

 

[Ray H]

Nice to see The Constant Gardener doing well for its theater count.

 

[Alex Spindler]

Extremely happy to see what landed at the top 4 this weekend.

Also, a good set of summer movie winners with lots of them that really merit it.

 

[Tino]

Anyone predict this?

Friday:
1 THE EXORCISM OF EMILY ROSE

2,981 $11,300,000

-- / $3,791
$11,300,000 / 1

Wow. Looks like a $30-35 million weekend.

 

[Pete-D]

I thought Emily could be a surprise hit, but that's a pretty large haul.

However, I'm not so certain this will have the greatest legs.

The marketing makes the movie seem scarier than it probably actually is.

The horror genre is pretty solid now, there's always going to be that teen market/20 something market that craves a horror movie once every few months.

This could be the start of a very strong fall movie season though, for all the cynics that were overblowing the whole "summer slump" IMO.

I see Tim Burton's Corpse Bride doing well, and then of course you still have Harry Potter, Zorro 2, DOOM, Narnia, and King Kong.

 

[Arjan S]

Emily's numbers would have surprised me, had I not gone to the theater yesterday. I went to the 7:00 PM show and it was sold out. When we left the show there was a huge line up for 9:45 show. I think it surprised the multiplex as well, since they only had it on one screen.

I think the whole based on a true exorcism got people interested. Plus, there hasn't been a hyped exorcism movie since The Exorcist which made it seem like something different.

I also noticed a lot of free publicity with A&E and TLC doing exorcism documentaries. Even a local radio show had a call in segment about whether you believed people can be possessed.