Box Office Report Jan 14th

Dude here again, with round of numbers that mean nothing to me, but mean a whole lot to people in buildings that I cower in the shadow of, day in and day out. I'm merely an ant. But not for long. Because, my friends, sometimes you're the windshield and sometimes you're the bug.

This weekend, yet another movie about kids in competitive hip hop dance styles takes the lead. I didn't even realize the horrible pun I just wrote until after it was already on the page. But it's there. I have to live with it now. I wonder if I can make money from every other outlet that uses it, claiming that I said it first.Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio estimates, the actuals will be available on Monday. Although, I think it's a holiday weekend, so the actuals might be ready on Tuesday, with some nice boost numbers on Monday. But this is Friday-Sunday).

1. Stomp The Yard (Scr Gems) - $22.0, 2051 screens, week 1, $22.0 total
2. Night At The Museum (Fox) - $17.1, 3612 screens, week 4, $185.756 total
3. The Pursuit of Happyness (Sony) - $9.1, 3169 screens, week 4, $134.479 total
4. Dreamgirls (Par/DW)- $8.1, 1907 screens, week 5, $64.96 total
5. Freedom Writers (Par) - $7.7, 2179 screens, week 2, $18.4 total
6. Children Of Men (Uni) - $6.4, 1508 screens, week 3, $21.398 total
7. Alpha Dog (Uni)- $6.1, 1288 screens, week 1, $6.1 total
8. Primeval (BV) - $5.988, 2444 screens, week 1, $5.988 total
9. Arthur and the Invisibles (MGM/Wein) - $4.3, 2247 screens, week 1, $4.3 total
10. The Good Shepherd (Uni) - $3.9, 1994 screens, week 4, $54.26 total

Ok, those are the numbers, but what do they mean? Well, it means that my spec script for "You Got Served... AGAIN!" is looking like it will be able to finally pay off! Stomp The Yard faced a lot of harsh criticism to win over moviegoers hearts and wallets. (Or electronic equivalent, this being the 21st century and all). This really should have come as no surprise to anybody, but I bet you hear the phrase "We never expected it to be THIS big" enter the lexicon shortly.

The other newcomers didn't seem to fare as well, which is disheartening, especially with regard to Primeval. Why? Because it's a movie about a giant crocodile, people. The failure of one means that no more shall follow. Sigh. Crocodiles, people. Alpha Dog fought years (literally) of litigation to finally get a release, and not perform that great. And the less said about Arthur and the Invisibles, the better. Why, I don't know. I guess because it means that Luc Besson may make good on his claim to stop directing movies.

The holdovers did alright, with Museum and Happyness continuing on their path. Freedom Writers and Dreamgirls had very low percentage drops from last week, but they also added a lot more screens. So it's like things balanced out. In a way.

Below the radar, nothing else really to talk about, except I want to throw my love towards Pan's Labyrinth and note that every week it keeps expanding. This week, it took in $2.07 million on 194 screens. This flick haunts me, and I can't recommend it enough.

And in the "just because it's there and because I can" series: Casino Royale took in $1,775,000 on 819 screens, bringing it's grand total to $162,525,000 in 9 weeks. It should be noted that it is also the highest grossing Bond Film worldwide, and may even take the domestic record as well in the next few weeks.

There you have my break down. Next week brings about a remarkable #1 comeback, as my numerous online petitions wake the world up to the prospect of a movie about a giant crocodile. It will happen. Until next weekend....