2006 at the Box Office (1 Viewer)

[TerryRL]

This year is a bit more inflated due to the performance of Pirates 2. That flick has sold more than 64 million admissions this year, compared to the 59 million that Episode III sold last year domestically. 2004 was anchored by "Shrek 2" (75 million), "Spider-Man 2" (60 million), and 'The Passion' (54 million) which sold a combined 189 million admissions that year.

As for "300", that flick is definitely high on my "must see" list for 2007. That movie looks truly epic.

 

[JediFonger]

2007 will be even MORE "inflated" due to spider-man3 amongst other huge sequel titans rolling down the cineplex.

 

[DavidPla]

2007 could be the biggest summer we've ever seen. I don't think I've ever seen a summer filled with so many anticipated blockbusters.

 

[JediFonger]

most of them are bound to be disappointing =^). 2much hype.

spider-man3 will be good because we've seen the track record/pedigree... the rest i'm not so sure about. can anyone make a list and let's dive in =).

 

[DavidPla]

Here's a list of all the "bigger" movies for the summer. I could be missing some.

May 4
Spider-Man 3

May 18
Shrek the Third

May 25
Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End

June 8
Ocean's 13
Surf's Up

June 15
Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer

June 22
Evan Almighty

June 29
Live Free or Die Hard
Ratatouille

July 4
Transformers

July 13
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix

July 20
I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry (Adam Sandler)

July 27
The Simpsons Movie

August 3
The Bourne Ultimatum
Underdog

August 10
Rush Hour 3

August 31
Halloween

 

[Malcolm R]

There's already a "2007 Box Office" thread in which TerryRL made a comprehensive list of next year's releases.

 

[Tino]

Weekend Actuals:

TW LW Title (click to view) Studio Weekend Gross % Change Theater Count / Change Average Total Gross Budget* Week #
1 N Apocalypto BV $15,005,604 - 2,465 - $6,087 $15,005,604 $40 1
2 1 Happy Feet WB $12,904,413 -26.5% 3,650 -154 $3,535 $137,932,841 $100 4
3 N The Holiday Sony $12,778,913 - 2,610 +1,810 $4,896 $12,778,913 $85 1
4 2 Casino Royale Sony $8,926,207 -40.9% 3,161 -225 $2,823 $129,020,082 $150 4
5 N Blood Diamond WB $8,648,324 - 1,910 +1,205 $4,527 $8,648,324 $100 1
6 3 Deja Vu BV $6,019,672 -45.0% 2,742 -366 $2,195 $52,995,929 $75 3
7 N Unaccompanied Minors WB $5,815,474 - 2,775 - $2,095 $5,815,474 $25 1
8 4 The Nativity Story NL $5,713,854 -27.2% 3,083 -100 $1,853 $15,907,450 $35 2
9 5 Deck the Halls Fox $3,993,188 -40.2% 2,766 -439 $1,443 $30,144,903 - 3
10 6 The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause BV $3,254,729 -33.5% 2,226 -391 $1,462 $77,184,019 - 6

Apocalypto gross was approx $1 million more than estimated ans The Holiday was $1 million less.

 

[TerryRL]

Friday Estimates

#1 "The Pursuit of Happyness" $9.0 million
#2 "Eragon" $8.6 million
#3 "Charlotte's Web" $3.4 million
#4 "The Holiday" $2.5 million ($19.7 million) 42% Friday-to-Friday drop
#5 "Apocalypto" $2.2 million ($22.4 million) 54% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "Happy Feet" $2.0 million ($142.9 million) 33% Friday-to-Friday drop
#7 "Blood Diamond" $1.8 million ($13.9 million) 32% Friday-to-Friday drop
#8 "Casino Royale" $1.5 million ($133.4 million) 40% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "The Nativity Story" $1.2 million ($19.5 million) 18% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "Unaccompanied Minors" $1.0 million ($7.5 million) 35% Friday-to-Friday drop

Sony's blockbuster year continues as megastar Will Smith's latest flick, "The Pursuit of Happyness", looks on course to give the studio their record 13th #1 opening of the year. 'Pursuit' could also give Smith his sixth straight #1 opening as well (four of which being films Smith made with Sony). Though Smith is among the top three biggest box office stars in the world (along with Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks), 'Pursuit' surprised many in the industry with its potent debut. Many felt the battle for #1 would fall between "Charlotte's Web" and "Eragon". Look for the film to earn more than $25 million this weekend.

Fox's "Eragon" debuted in second place yesterday with a take of just over $8 million. Despite negative reviews, "Eragon" is also looking at a debut weekend mark of about $25 million. Paramount's "Charlotte's Web" proved to be disappointing as it pulled in a little over $3 million on Friday. This one looks headed for an opening tally of more than $10 million.

 

[TerryRL]

Weekend Estimates

#1 "The Pursuit of Happyness" $27.0 million
#2 "Eragon" $23.4 million
#3 "Charlotte's Web" $12.0 million
#4 "Happy Feet" $8.5 million ($149.4 million) -34%
#5 "The Holiday" $8.2 million ($25.3 million) -36%
#6 "Apocalypto" $7.7 million ($27.9 million) -48%
#7 "Blood Diamond" $6.3 million ($18.4 million) -27%
#8 "Casino Royale" $5.7 million ($137.6 million) -36%
#9 "The Nativity Story" $4.7 million ($23.0 million) -18%
#10 "Unaccompanied Minors" $3.7 million ($10.2 million) -37%

The industry enjoyed a solid weekend of business as megastar Will Smith earned his sixth consecutive #1 opening (overall, its his 10th #1 debut out of the 16 films he's starred in). Business was down 10% compared to this frame last year when "King Kong" got out of the gates with its $50 million opening. Compared to 2004, business was up nearly 13% when "Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events" launched with just over $30 million.

2006 has now tallied $8.628 billion domestically at the box office, which is up 4% from last year's year-to-date mark of $8.307 billion, but down 2.6% to 2004's $8.857 billion haul through the third weekend of December. 2006 has now sold an estimated 1.311 billion theater admissions compared to the 1.298 billion and 1.426 billion that 2005 and 2004 had sold by this time respectively.

Sony's record year continues as they earned their 13th #1 opening of the year with "The Pursuit of Happyness". Sony has now tallied a record-breaking $1.58 billion domestically this year, besting their previous record of 1.57 billion set in 2002. 'Pursuit' pulled in $27 million, which makes it the 9th biggest debut in star Will Smith's career. The studio was pleasantly surprised as they were expecting an opening more in the range of $20 million. The movie earned a per-theater average of $9,467 from its 2,852 locations, which easily led the top ten.

'Pursuit' is expected to earn Smith a second Oscar nod in the Best Actor category (his first coming for 2001's "Ali"), as well as having a shot at eventually topping the century mark, giving the actor his sixth consecutive $100 million-plus earner, making him only the third star ever to accomplish that feat. Both Tom Cruise and Tom Hanks had streaks of seven strait $100 million-plus performers.

Will Smith has emerged as the biggest African-American star in the industry, as well as one of the few performers who earn more than $25 million per-film. With 'Pursuit' the actor proves that like Cruise and Hanks, he can pretty much open anything at the box office with his name on the marquee. 'Pursuit' wasn't expected to top the charts this weekend as most prognosticators felt that "Charlotte's Web" and "Eragon" would battle it out for #1. With a modest budget of $55 million, expect 'Pursuit' to have a very lucrative run in theaters and on home video.

Fox's fantasy flick, "Eragon", debuted in the second slot with a little more than $23 million, earning a solid per-theater average of $7,764 from its 3,020 locations, which was the second best of the top ten. The film, budgeted at about $100 million, took some hits from critics and saw a slight percentage drop in its Friday-to-Saturday numbers (a little less than 1%). Still, the studio is expecting a solid run from this one over the next several weeks. It won't pull in 'Narnia' numbers, but the studio is hopeful that the film will be successful enough to launch a new franchise of films.

Paramount's "Charlotte's Web" got off to a disappointing start as it pulled in just $12 million, earning a soft per-theater average of $3,372 from its massive 3,566 locations. The $85 million budgeted flick was expected to be this weekend's top performer, but came well below studio and industry expectations.

WB's "Happy Feet" should pass the $150 million plateau within the next couple of days and has emerged as the front-runner for the Best Animated Feature Film Oscar. Sony's "The Holiday" lost just 36% of its business this weekend and has so far tallied $25.3 million. This one looks headed for a final mark well north of the $50 million mark. Disney's "Apocalypto" dropped to the sixth slot with a moderate 48% hit in business. The film has now earned just under $28 million and should top out in the area of $50-$60 million.

WB's "Blood Diamond" has now posted close to $18.4 million, not too impressive for a movie that cost well over $100 million to make. Sony's "Casino Royale" is now sitting on a domestic haul of more than $137 million. New Line's "The Nativity Story" has brought in $23 million. WB's "Unaccompanied Minors" rounds out the top ten as it has tallied just $10.2 million since its release.

DreamWorks' Oscar hopeful "Dreamgirls" launched in three theaters this weekend and pulled in $360K, earning a whopping per-theater average of $120K. That tally was said to have been inflated by the $25 ticket prices for the showings in New York, L.A., and San Francisco. Also in limited play, "The Queen" continues to do well as it has now earned more than $25 million, while "Babel" is sitting on a domestic haul of more than $18 million. All three of these Oscar hopefuls should do well at next month's Golden Globe telecast.

Next weekend will see four new releases hit the marketplace. Fox's "Night at the Museum", MGM/Sony's "Rocky Balboa", WB's "We Are Marshall", and Universal's Oscar hopeful, "The Good Shepard". While the two inspirational sports flicks, 'Rocky' and 'Marshall', are both expected to do very well, "Night at the Museum" is the movie most believe will easily top the charts next week.

 

[Adam_S]

Dreamgirls isn't just in three theaters its only on three screens as well.

Last year brokeback mountain was in about five theatres but on about 20 screens.

 

[Malcolm R]

Another non-starter from Walden Media. Outside of "Narnia," and possibly "Holes," their track record is pretty pathetic.

 

[TheBat]

I hope families will give charlottes web a chance.. its a really good family movie for all ages.. its not dumbed down for the audience.. they really captured the spirit of the book.

JACOB

 

[Adam_S]

Then why was it sold as a hideous bastardization version of the book/animated classic?

(speaking of course of the heavy emphasis on farting in the trailer)

I know a lot of people were interested until they got to those parts of the trailer and then just figured that 'they ruined it' and lost interest.

 

[BrettB]

Weird about CW. It's at 80% overall at RT. We tried to see it last night but our passes weren't good for a new release so we saw Casino Royale instead.

 

[TheBat]

the animal humor is very mild in the movie. I agree that they marketing the movie wrong..

Jacob

 

[DavidPla]

6.3 M opening Wedneday for "Rocky Balboa"! Not bad at all... hopefully it only builds this weekend.

Link Removed

Stallone himself comments about the great opening day here...

http://www.aintitcool.com/node/31054

 

[Adam_S]

good for ol' Rock. My Dad and I (and maybe my brother) are gonna go see this this weekend. He saw the skating rink clip on youtube (!) and is really excited for it now. I think that clip makes a better trailer for the film than anything else.

 

[TerryRL]

Friday Estimates

#1 "Night at the Museum" $12.2 million
#2 "The Pursuit of Happyness" $5.3 million ($43.6 million) 41% Friday-to-Friday drop
#3 "Rocky Balboa" $5.0 million ($14.7 million)
#4 "The Good Shepard" $3.5 million
#5 "Charlotte's Web" $3.1 million ($21.9 million) 8% Friday-to-Friday drop
#6 "Eragon" $2.75 million ($33.2 million) 68% Friday-to-Friday drop (Ouch!)
#7 "We Are Marshall" $2.70 million
#8 "The Holiday" $1.82 million ($31.9 million) 29% Friday-to-Friday drop
#9 "Happy Feet" $1.80 million ($155.7 million) 14% Friday-to-Friday drop
#10 "The Nativity Story" $1.5 million ($28.2 million) 28% Friday-to-Friday increase

As expected, Fox's "Night at the Museum" had little difficulty in securing the top spot upon its debut yesterday. The film pulled in more than $12 million and looks to open well north of the $30 million mark.

Sony's "The Pursuit of Happyness" held steady at #2 and was off a very moderate 41% from its pace from last weekend. Sony's "Rocky Balboa" continues to pull in solid marks as it has now earned just under $15 million since its debut on Wednesday. Universal's "The Good Shepard" got off to a good start as it pulled in $3.5 mil yesterday, while Paramount's "Charlotte's Web" saw only an 8% slide from its Friday-to-Friday business.

 

[Malcolm R]

...and Eragon crashed and burned. Justifiably so, from what I hear.

Apocalypto appears to have left the Top 10 after only two weeks, as well.

 

[Chris]

I'm interested to see how "Dreamgirls" does when it premieres on Monday.