Weekend Wrap-Up for Friday, August 31 - Monday, September 3, 2007

By David Mumpower and Kim Hollis

September 3, 2007

Why does no one ever trick-or-treat at this house?

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Finishing in second place is the buzz hit of the second half of the summer, Superbad. Ever since the film's "Red Band" trailer, the R-Rated version of its promotional clip, hit the Internet, this title's success has been a foregone conclusion to everyone except people in charge of tracking data. This weekend is the first time that Judd Apatow's latest film is not in first place after two weeks of domination. Instead, it will have to settle for $12.5 million over three days, $15.6 million over four days, and a running total of $92.4 million. Superbad will cross the $100 million threshold in the next week, giving Seth Rogen a pair of $100 million winners this summer, both of which were extremely cheap to make. He's the new Steve Carell.

The other big debut of the weekend is Balls of Fury, written by former members of MTV's The State, Thomas Lennon and Ben Garant. These two men have had recent success with the $10.3 million opening weekend of Reno 911!: Miami as well as a little film called Night at the Museum. After a rocky $1.7 million start on Wednesday, it appeared that audiences were telling The State that they did not, with apologies to Ken Marino, want to dip their balls (of fury) in it. Over the weekend, however, movie-goers apparently changed their minds. Balls of Fury earned $11.3 million in three days and $14.3 million over four days. What looked like disaster after Thursday has suddenly morphed into a solid hit for Rogue Pictures. After six days, the production has grossed $16.8 million, which is slightly more than its budget. Reversals of fortune do not come in any more dramatic fashion than this.




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The Bourne Ultimatum slides two spots to fourth place this weekend. Due to the holiday-inflated numbers for the weekend, Matt Damon's latest spy thriller falls only 17% to $10.3 million over the Friday-to-Sunday period. Its four day total of $13.2 million brings its total over the $200 million landmark with $202.6 million. It has passed Ratatouille to become the sixth most successful domestic release of 2007. Passing 300's total of $210.6 million to reach the top five will occur in the next seven days. Going any higher than that appears unlikely, since the next mark is Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix's total of $285 million and counting. When we examine the summer's ramifications, perhaps none will stand larger than the fact that five of the top 30 performers of all-time were released in the span of three months.

Rounding out the top five for Labor Day weekend is Rush Hour 3. Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker's latest buddy cop action flick brings in another $8.4 million through Sunday and $10.4 million over the four-day holiday period. This is a three-day to three-day decline of 28%; it has a grand total of $122.2 million domestically. I've said it before and I'll say it again. Given the time lapse between Rush Hour 2 and this one, New Line has to be quite pleased with the box office result.


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