Weekend Wrap-Up

Ultimate Bourne Sends Simpsons Packing

ByJohn Hamann

August 5, 2007

Matt Damon discovers the glory of scotch tape.

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Finishing second is The Simpsons Movie; however, the party from last weekend is completely over. The Simpsons took in a small $25.6 million, yards away from its very impressive debut of $74.1 million. The drop this weekend is a staggering 65%, and shows just how front-loaded The Simpsons Movie is. The killer drop signals something more than sequel-itis. The Simpsons Movie has reached fad status where a movie is flavor of the week, and then pretty much abandoned by everyone. This is somewhat of a surprise to me, as reviews were so good I anticipated follow-up viewings by the hardcore Simpsons fanatics, not to mention the generally positive word-of-mouth that a 89% fresh film brings. Don't get me wrong – this is far from any kind of disaster (the film crossed the $100 million mark on Thursday, its seventh day of release), but it does mean that The Simpsons Movie is unlikely to even reach $200 million. There is also probably more bad news in the weeks ahead instead of good news. Fox shouldn't care. This one cost $65 million to make, and now sits with $128.5 million in domestic receipts (and foreign grosses are almost equal).

Finishing third is Underdog, Disney's take on the cartoon dog from yesteryear. Underdog didn't blow anything out, but did finish the weekend with a respectable take of $12 million, earned from 3,013 venues. It had a so-so venue average of $3,986. While no Scooby-Doo, Underdog does approach the success of George of the Jungle ($16.5 million opening) and blows out films like Mr. Magoo ($5.2 million opening) and Dudley Do-Right ($3 million opening). As expected, critics hated it, but let's face facts: critics are not eight-years-old. No budget data is available, but with no big salaries and inexpensive special effects it will most likely be a push for the studio.

Landing in fourth is I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, the latest Adam Sandler flick. Chuck and Larry sees another sharp drop, as the laugher grossed $10.5 million, and fell 45%. This Universal effort has almost reached the $100 million mark, as its total sits at $91.7 million.




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Fifth place goes to Hairspray, as the summer musical continues to fade from its brilliant opening of $27.5 million a few weekends ago. In its third frame, Hairspray grossed $9.3 million and fell a better 41%. The John Waters tribute should make it to $100 million, but won't go too far past that. Currently, the New Line film has earned $79 million.

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix drops to sixth, down from third spot last weekend. The latest Potter flick earned $9.3 million, and was off 48% from its previous frame. The Order of the Phoenix has now earned $260.8 million domestically, and looks to finish just short of the last installment, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which finished with about $291 million domestically.

That puts the Catherine Zeta-Jones film No Reservations down to seventh, after opening to about $11 million last weekend. No Reservations earned $6.6 million in its follow-up weekend, off an okay 44% from last weekend. Look for this one to finish quietly with about $35 million. Currently, it sits with about $24.2 million in the domestic kitty.


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