Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
May 17, 2008
BoxOfficeProphets.com
The considerably lesser known next chapter in C.S. Lewis' Narnia series opened to $19.6 million on Friday. While this is going to win the weekend by a considerable margin, it's down from the $23 million opening day of The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe from December 2005. You can already forget about a duplication of the $291.7 million that eventually ended up with.
The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe turned that opening figure into $65.5 million, a 2.85 weekend multiplier. That's fine for December, when films have extended legs over the Christmas to New Year's week. But that would be absolutely disastrous here. I expect a very good Saturday and a somewhat above average Sunday for Prince Caspian, and an internal multiplier around a 3.2. That would be a salvagable $62.7 million weekend, though the legs won't be there like they were for the first film.
[tm:995_]Iron Man[/tm]
Two-week champ Iron Man crosses the $200 million mark on its 15th day of release with $9 million, down 39% from last Friday. It's full steam ahead now to try to crack $300 million, and a $30 million weekend is a good start to that.
[tm:1414_]Speed Racer[/tm]
Weekend two isn't much better for the Wachowski-filmed Speed Racer, off 68% from last Friday to $2 million. Even a final take of $50 million is just about out of the question at this point. Expect about $6.6 million in the second frame.