Weekend Wrap-Up for August 24-26, 2007

Superbad Leads Hibernating Box Office

By John Hamann

August 26, 2007

We all just made his dreams come true!

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Well back in fifth place is the action throwback War, which stars Jet Li and Jason Statham. The Lionsgate effort earned $10 million over its opening weekend, which is a fairly standard effort for Jet Li and Statham. Jet Li's Fearless opened to $10.6 million, and Unleashed debuted with $10.9 million. Li's popularity has dropped considerably in the last few years, as his first films like Romeo Must Die and The One were much more popular over their opening weekends, pulling in $18 million and $19 million respectively. It doesn't help that these films are oftentimes awful, with War being no exception. War received a 25% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes, although only 16 critics had worked up the will to sit through it. Teaming Li up with The One co-star Jason Statham didn't help either, as this one opens right around where Statham's last film, Crank, debuted ($10.5 million).

The Nanny Diaries keeled over in sixth, as Scarlett Johansson adds another stinker to her resume. The Nanny Diaries, based on a popular book, arrives DOA at the box office, earning only $7.8 million from 2,629 venues. The writing was on the wall for this one, as it had no buzz and carried a 31% fresh rating heading into the weekend. For Johansson, The Nanny Diaries joins films like The Black Dahlia, Scoop, Match Point and The Island as recent misses for the young actress. Look for The Nanny Diaries to disappear quickly.

The Simpsons Movie tumbles from fourth last weekend to seventh this weekend. The Fox comedy earned $4.4 million this weekend as it fights to stay alive in the late summer box office. The Simpsons Movie dropped 36% compared to last weekend, and has now earned $173.4 million at the domestic box office. Despite opening to $74 million, this one isn't going to earn $200 million domestically; however, it has already earned almost $300 million overseas.

Stardust finishes eighth as the Neil Gaiman project begins to lose steam. Stardust earned $4.0 million in its third weekend, and was off 30% compared to the previous frame. This $70 million effort has entered flop territory, as it has earned only $26.5 million since opening, and won't finish with much more than $35 million.




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Finishing up a solid run is Hairspray, our ninth place film. Hairspray earned $3.5 million in its sixth weekend, off 23% compared to last weekend. The total now for the musical has reached $107.4 million, not bad versus its $75 million budget.

Rounding out the top ten is The Invasion, the big Nicole Kidman flop that debuted last weekend. The Invasion, with its $80 million budget (that I sense is low due to reshoots) earned only $3.1 million in its second weekend, off 47% compared to its debut. This Warner Bros. mistake has now earned $11.5 million, and at this point the studio must think a $20 million finish is a lottery win.

Overall, the party is over at the summer box office. The top 12 found an okay $90.2 million, which still compares favorably with last year's top 12 total of $84.1 million, when Mark Walhberg's Invincible debuted with $17 million. Next weekend is Labor Day and three somewhat interesting films open. Wednesday brings Balls of Fury, the ping pong comedy with Christopher Walken, which will be followed by Rob Zombie's take on the Halloween franchise, and James Wan's latest, Death Sentence with Kevin Bacon.


Top Box Office for 8/24/7-8/26/7 (Estimates)
Rank
Film
Number of
Sites
Estimated
Gross
Percentage
Change from
Last Week
Cumulative
Gross
1 Superbad 2948 $18,000,000 - 46% $68,572,000
2 The Bourne Ultimatum 3679 $12,361,440 - 38% $185,142,840
3 Rush Hour 3 3408 $12,250,000 - 43% $109,019,000
4 Mr. Bean's Holiday 1714 $10,121,170 New $10,121,170
5 War 2277 $10,000,000 New $10,000,000
6 The Nanny Diaries 2629 $7,811,000 New $7,811,000
7 The Simpsons Movie 2600 $4,400,000 - 36% $173,437,169
8 Stardust 2339 $3,954,000 - 30% $26,455,000
9 Hairspray 2016 $3,450,000 - 23% $107,444,000
10 The Invasion 2776 $3,140,000 - 47% $11,515,000
11 Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix 1322 $2,480,000 - 32% $283,309,000
12 Underdog 2209 $2,243,000 - 42% $36,637,000
Also opening:
Resurrecting the Champ 1,605 1,849,018 New 1,849,018
Illegal Tender 512 $1,436,160 New $1,436,160
September Dawn 857 $600,000 New $600,000
Eye of the Dolphin 130 $43,000 New $43,000
Dedication 4 $24,000 New $24,000
Deep Water 2 $23,000 New $23,000
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations

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