Friday Box Office Analysis
By Tim Briody
January 21, 2006
BoxOfficeProphets.com

Somebody forgot to kill Phillip!

Thanks to Kate Beckinsale and skintight latex outfits, the big winner this weekend is the audience.

Underworld: Evolution

The Kate Beckinsale sequel opened with a solid $10.5 million Friday, an uptick from the $9 million Underworld earned in September of 2003. That movie had a stellar 2.41 weekend multiplier on its way to a $21.7 million weekend. With the sequel factor and all, I don't see why history won't repeat itself here, so we're looking at a weekend tally of $25.3 million, still a very good opening number for January.

The End of the Spear

The religious drama earned $1.5 million on just 1,162 theaters, about as good as it could have hoped for considering its subject matter, target audience and screen count. It should come in at a little under $5 million for the weekend.

The New World

Note to Terrence Malick: nobody cares when you release a movie any more. The New World did take in $1.2 million on Friday, and around $4 million awaits it as a weekend total, but still.

Notable Holdovers

Glory Road falls 41.2%, which is pretty good since Coach Carter fell 53% on its second Friday. Look for a 35% weekend decline.

Hoodwinked drops only 22% from last Friday, and if it has a similar multiplier as it did last weekend, we'll be looking at an incredibly low weekend decline, perhaps around the 10% mark.

On the heels of its Golden Globes performance and screen count increase, Brokeback Mountain has a 34% increase from last Friday. Don't look now, but $50 million is in striking distance by next weekend.