Friday Numbers Analysis
By Tim Briody
March 12, 2005
Arguably the biggest release of 2005 to date arrived Friday, and it might just be time to stop immediately assuming a computer animated film that's not by Pixar or called "Shrek" will break box office records.
Robots
With a $10 million opening day take, the rumblings can start that the bloom may be off the computer-animated rose. This is a step back from the $13.7 million Fox's Ice Age earned on its first day on this weekend three years ago. All isn't lost for the weekend, though, as last year's Shark Tale had a 3.75 internal multiplier (Ice Age had a 3.37.) The real money is made on Saturday and Sunday. We'll give Robots a 3.7 multiplier, good for a $37 million weekend.
Hostage
Bruce Willis' Hostage took $3.3 million Friday in a scant (for these days) 2,123 theaters. 2003's Tears of the Sun managed a 2.93 internal multiplier, but we'll drop that to 2.8 or so for Hostage, giving it about $9.2 million for the weekend.
Notable Holdovers
In the wake of Robots, The Pacifier drops 45.7% from last week. It'll recover a bit over the weekend to get its drop under the 40% mark.
Be Cool gets even cooler at the box office, falling 54.2% from last Friday. A decline of around 50% is in store for the remainder of the weekend, and it will quickly be shown the door from here.
|
Projected Estimates for the Top Ten (Three-Day)
|
Projected
Rank |
Film |
Estimated Gross |
|
1
|
Robots
|
37.0
|
|
2
|
The Pacifier
|
18.3
|
|
3
|
Be Cool
|
11.9
|
|
4
|
Hostage
|
8.9
|
|
5
|
Hitch
|
8.5
|
|
6
|
Diary of a Mad Black Woman
|
4.8
|
|
7
|
Million Dollar Baby
|
4.7
|
|
8
|
Constantine
|
3.7
|
|
9
|
Man of the House
|
1.9
|
|
10
|
Cursed
|
1.5
|
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