Weekend Wrap-Up for November 9-11, 2007

Fred Claus Left Bee-hind at Weekend Box Office

By John Hamann

November 11, 2007

Look at their eyes. They're on drugs.

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Who was director David Dobkin (The Wedding Crashers) aiming Fred Claus at anyway? Vince Vaughn is the last person I would cast in a kids movie, as the first movie we think of Vaughn in is The Wedding Crashers, a decidedly adult film to begin with. Sure, Elf worked with Will Ferrell, but Elf was aimed at adults, really, but worked with kids anyway (that's how it earned $173 million at the domestic box office). The running time at just under two hours is probably too long for kids as well. The marketing for Fred was scattered at best, and not really funny, so it's no wonder it opened to less than $20 million.

Finishing fourth is the Robert Redford-directed Lions for Lambs, which stars Redford, Tom Cruise and Meryl Streep. Lambs did not do well, earning only $6.7 million from 2, 215 venues. It had a sorry venue average of $3,029. This open is the lowest for Tom Cruise since Magnolia, when the Paul Thomas Anderson flick went wide (albeit to only 1,034 venues) and earned $5.7 million. Critics slaughtered Lambs, as the star-studded drama earned reviews that were worse than P2, the horror flick that opened this weekend. At RottenTomatoes, 136 critics weighed in and only 37 found something to like. That's a fresh rating of only 27%, which is a disaster for a film like this. Look for Lambs to disappear quickly.

Dan in Real Life finishes fifth, but in terms of holds the Steve Carell flick is one of the few bright spots this weekend. Dan earned $5.9 million in its third weekend, and was off a small 25% this weekend. Given its small $12 million open, Carell and company have turned this into a very small win for Disney, as its total has now reached $30.7 million, and could earn as much as $50 million before the Real Life ends.

Saw IV finishes sixth, and fares somewhat better than its ludicrous 67% plunge last weekend. In its third weekend, Saw IV earned $5 million, dropping 52%. Saw IV will end up being the lowest earning Saw film so far, finishing about $10 million behind Saw III's $80.2 million. So far, the Lionsgate horror flick has earned $58.1 million.

Seventh spot goes to The Rock's Game Plan, as the family friendly comedy runs into more new competition in Fred Claus after working against Bee Movie last weekend. The Game Plan took in $2.4 million and was off 39% as families found other options for their movie going dollar. The Game Plan is still a huge success for Disney, as so far, it has earned $85.4 million, The Rock's largest score since The Scorpion King.




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Eighth spot goes to horror flick P2, starring Wes Bentley. P2 stayed in the basement this weekend, earning only $2.2 million from 2,131 venues this weekend. Maybe the oddest thing about P2 is that it ended up being the best reviewed wide release of the weekend, but was still only 36% fresh.

Landing in ninth is 30 Days of Night, the four-weekend-old vampire flick from Sony. 30 Days earned $2.1 million and fell 44%. So far, the Sam Raimi produced flick has earned $37.4 million.

Tenth spot goes to the lifeless Martian Child with John Cusack. After a poor opening of $3.8 million last weekend, things don't get any better this weekend. Martian Child earned $1.8 million and was off 48%. Its total so far is $6 million.

What may be the best news of the weekend is that No Country for Old Men, the latest flick from the Coen Brothers, got off to a fantastic start. No Country and its 95% fresh rating earned $1.2 million from only 28 venues this weekend, giving it a white hot venue average of $42,929.

Overall, though, things are not great. The top 12 films last year, on the strength of Borat's stunning second weekend, earned $111.4 million. This weekend, with two holdovers on top, the top 12 could only muster $98.9 million, about 11% behind last year's take.


Top Weekend Box Office for 11/9/07-11/11/07 (Actuals)
Rank Film Distributor Estimated Gross Actual Gross Weekly Change Running Total
1 Bee Movie DreamWorks $26,000,000 $25,565,462 - 32.8% $71,779,597
2 American Gangster Universal $24,319,050 $24,028,445 - 44.8% $80,338,420
3 Fred Claus Warner Bros. $19,225,000 $18,515,473 New $18,515,473
4 Lions for Lambs United Artists (MGM) $6,710,000 $6,702,434 New $6,702,434
5 Dan in Real Life Touchstone Pictures $5,872,000 $6,002,717 - 23.7% $30,809,056
6 Saw IV Lionsgate $5,010,000 $4,949,812 - 52.2% $58,026,020
7 The Game Plan Walt Disney Pictures $2,410,000 $2,462,122 - 37.4% $85,446,069
8 30 Days of Night Sony/Columbia $2,100,000 $2,172,031 - 42.0% $37,430,374
9 P2 Summit Entertainmnent $2,200,000 $2,083,398 New $2,083,398
10 The Martian Child New Line Cinema $1,750,000 $1,843,767 - 45.4% $6,106,881
11 Michael Clayton Warner Bros. $1,660,000 $1,697,456 - 39.1% $35,631,903
12 Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? Lionsgate $1,610,000 $1,462,891 - 43.8% $53,148,319
  Also Opening/Notables
  No Country for Old Men Paramount $1,202,000 $1,226,333 New $1,226,333
  Saawariya Sony/Columbia $490,000 $542,192 New $542,192
Click here for all weekend data
Box office data supplied by Exhibitor Relations
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