The Dudes Box Office Report Aug/8/2005

Dude here, in LaLa land, a place where if you're not in "The biz" or desperately clawing to get into it, then people ask what the hell you're doing here. That being said, I have taken it upon myself to play the numbers game for you all, and report on that favorite tradition, the weekend North American Box Office grosses.

This week only one big brash newcomer to the table, The Dukes Of Hazzard, comes in, but it did what Michael Bay, Rob Cohen, John Cusack, a school for teen super heroes, and some bad news bears couldn't do. It knocked off the dynamic duo of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and Wedding Crashers. Let's take a look at the studio estimates, shall we?

(Since this is my first week at this, I'm attempting to find a good format on how to present these. Bear with me, they may change. I am only sticking with the top ten films, unless otherwise noted. Keep in mind, these are the studio estimates, and the actuals could vary by a million dollars up or down. Also, all figures are in millions of dollars.)

1. The Dukes Of Hazzard - $30.5, week 1, $30.5 total
2. Wedding Crashers- $16.5, week 4, $144.0 total
3. Charlie and the Chocolate Factory- $10.5, week 4, $169.0 total
4. Sky High- $9.0, week 2, $32.0 total
5. Must Love Dogs- $7.4, week 2, $26.2 total
6. March of the Penguins- $7.1, week 7, $26.4 total
7. Stealth- $5.8, week 2, $24.4 total
8. Fantastic Four- $4.0, week 5, $143.7 total
9. War of the Worlds- $3.5, week 6, $224.6 total
10. The Island- $3.1, week 3, $30.9 total

Ok, those are the numbers, so what does this all mean? Well, if you happen to work at Warner Brothers, a helluva lot. First off, Warners has four flicks in the top ten (Dukes, Charlie, Dogs, Penguins, AND Wedding Crashers is New Line, a WB subsidiary, but we're not gonna count that). Which means, they also have the most amount of screens across the country. Regardless, they made a lot of money this weekend with four very different films, skewing different markets.

What the Duke boys #1 opening means is that the audience was there to see a dumb movie that was fun as well, as opposed to, say, that rather dour movie about an evil robot plane, or the one about the clones and an island. If you're having fun (or as the British like to say "Takin the piss") with your characters, then your audience will have fun too. That OR there really was a large demand to see another movie based on a beloved television series. Maybe the duke boys have a larger following then most expected. I know I was shocked by how much fun I had, even if it wasn't all that great a film. The Dukes are also critic proof, having achieved the #1 spot in spite of many many bad reviews. (Unlike Stealth, which also received bad reviews last week, and tanked). I think it actually wound taking more than most people thought. The real question is, will it continue to entertain throughout the month, or fall 60% next weekend and be on DVD shelves before Christmas?

(The other question on my mind is, since Jay Chandrasekhar directed a movie that made more in one weekend than his previous films combined, will he have a little more leeway, and be allowed to make that awesome Broken Lizard movie they wrote where they portray Greek philosophers in their college days? That movie sounds awesome, and I hope this success lets them make that the way they want to).

Since nothing else really opened, the other returns are to be expected. In this industry nowadays, all movies are expected to plunge within five weeks or so, and very few have what we like to call "Legs." Still, people seem to enjoy touring that chocolate factory and crashing weddings with Owen and Vince.

The big surprise, even though it's not much of a surprise because they purposefully expanded their release, was March of the Penguins. This documentary about the life of a penguin (or many penguins, actually) seems to be taking the nation by storm. It's supposedly a lot of fun, and good for viewers of all ages. (Haven't seen it yet, so I can't judge). When the summer closes up shop, I have a feeling this film will be hailed as the great "sleeper" hit. And seeing as how it increases it's take every weekend, and attracts more and more viewers, it deserves it. And there's something gratifying in knowing that a documentary about a bunch of penguins is making more money than Stealth. Man, I hated Stealth.

So, we're supposedly entering the dog days of summer here, and we'll most likely not see any enormous opening weekends again until Harry Potter is released in November. And now the studios are loading up the weekends with multiple films, most of which don't look all that appealing, and will likely split the difference at the box office this month. Next week alone, we have four major releases, each one skewing a different audience. (Skeleton Key for horror fans, Deuce Bigelow for Rob Schnieder fans, Four Brothers for action, and The Great Raid for... well, I'm not too sure at this point). Don't be surprised if the numbers begin to dwindle, and everyone talks more about the "slump" in the box office.

Until next weekend....