Box Office Report March 6th 2006

Posted by: The Dude

Dude here again. Well, I thought I would try to be crafty, and hold my box office report until today, to show the significant increase in gross that the Academy Awards can boost a film's take. however, the year's "Best Picture" Crash has been out of theaters for a long while, thus ruining my plans. Foiled again. Maybe I'll have more next week, but once again, time has made a fool of me. I hang my head in shame, as Charlie Brown's Christmas song plays in the background.

This week, we have a repeat winner in the top spot, which is the first time all year that's happened. We also have not one, not two, not three, but FOUR new releases, none of which managed to garner all that much money in the long run. It's kind of sad really. But not that much in the long scheme of things. Let's go to the numbers, shall we? (All in millions, remember, and these are the studio actuals, because of my aforementioned lethargy that lead to this being written on Monday).

Tyler Perry's Madea's Family Reunion (LG) - $12.6, 2194 screens, week 2, $47.7 total
16 Blocks (WB) - $11.855, 2706 screens, week 1, $11.855 total
Eight Below (BV)- $10.1, 3122 screens, week 3, $58.6 total
Ultraviolet (ScrGms) - $9.06, 2558 screens, week 1, $9.06 total
Aquamarine (Fox) - $7.48, 2512 screens, week 1, $7.48 total
The Pink Panther (MGM/Sony) - $6.88, 3024 screens, week 4, $69.668 total
Dave Chappelle's Block Party (Rogue) - $6.2, 1200 screens, week 1, $6.2 total
Date Movie (Fox)- $5.1, 2603 screens, week 3, $40.7 total
Curious George (Uni) - $4.5, 2590 screens, week 4, $49.3 total
Firewall (WB) - $3.58, 2212 screens, week 4, $42.49 total

Ok, those are the numbers, so what does this all mean? Well, if you're Lionsgate, this is a mighty triumphant weekend for you. On top of claiming the top spot of the box office for the second week in a row (with the SAME movie as last week, which is very rare in these times) Crash did take the best picture Oscar this weekend. There's a mighty party going on over in those offices today, I can tell you that. Sure, Madea's Family Reunion dropped almost 58% from last week's take. It doesn't matter. It was a slow week at the box office, as we enter the March months, where movies that COULD be big try to open, but usually stumble a bit. Sure there are breakout hits, and every film released is hoping they're the one, but they all usually falter.

If you're 16 Blocks, you put up a good fight. Coming close to the #1 spot, but not quite making it, the film at least garnered good reviews praising a return to old fashioned, meat and potatoes action flicks for Bruce Willis and director Richard Donner. It also proved the marketability of one Mos Def, who also happened to appear in Dave Chappelle's Block Party which also opened this weekend. The people love their Mos Def. I know that I do. Even if it's not a whole lot of people. Time will tell, but the film will probably drop off within the next two weeks or so.

If you're Ultraviolet, congratulations. You duped $9 million dollars out of people expecting a movie with a... ummm... what's the word I'm looking for... oh yeah, PLOT! In one of the most anticipated disappointments of recent moviedom, the completely inane, candy colored, 90 minute fight sequence managed to take in a fair amount of coin, but I feel will drop significantly when people catch on. It hurts me to say that, because I respect Kurt Wimmer, but let's be honest, the movie is worse than a joke about Michael Jackson at an orphanage.

If you're Aquamarine, I have no idea what the hell this movie is about, or why there's a movie called Aquamarine. So research leads me to believe the movie involves a mermaid and some teen girls. There's a recipe for awesomeness. But seeing as how that movie made almost $7.5 million dollars, and I wound up almost $60 lighter when all was said and done, I am in no position to criticize. No, wait, I am. What the hell is this crap all about? A Teen mermaid movie? C'mon!

If you're Dave Chappelle, your block party didn't really attract too many people. Too bad, because it received the best reviews out of all the movies on the top ten, and rightly so. It's a fun good old time at the movies, and people didn't respond. Perhaps it has something to do with people thinking Dave Chappelle is crazy (which he isn't). Perhaps it's the low number of screens in comparison to the other releases. I don't know these things, but that doesn't mean I can't speculate. Still, it's kind of depressing the teen mermaid movie AND the Pink Panther made more money, and the Pink Panther's in it's fourth week.

Everything else dropped significantly. Except under the radar, Capote (starring Best Actor Winner Phillip Seymour Hoffman) and Transamerica (with Best Actress Nominee Felicity Huffman) increased 48.6% amd 70.6% respectively. In comparison, Freedomland dropped 79.5% compared to last week. Just something to think about. Just saying.

Below the radar, the IMAX release Deep Sea 3-D opened up to $692,861 on 43 screens, bringing in the highest per screen average of $16,113. Like I said, it was a relatively low key weekend.

And in the "just because it's there and because I can" series: The World's Fastest Indian took in $331,876 on 221 screens, bringing it's tally to $2,565,331 in 13 weeks.

There you have my wonderful break down. Next week, we have a remake of a Disney film starring Tim Allen, a remake of a Wes Craven horror film starring young teen fodder, and a McConaughey movie, which is always worthwhile in my book.

Until next weekend....