Now Playing: Weekend Box Office
October 26, 2006
Also this week, the mental illness comedy Running With Scissors expands to 600 locations, and it will likely deliver a very healthy per screen average.
Based on the memoir by Augusten Burroughs, Scissors is directed by Nip/Tuck creator Rian Murphy and boasts a cast that includes Annette Bening, Alec Baldwin, Brian Cox, Evan Rachel Wood, Jill Clayburg, Gwyneth Paltrow and Joseph Fiennes. The reviews are decidedly mixed and tilting toward the negative, but I think of it as an inspired, often-funny mess of a film.
Annette Bening is one of my very favorite actors, and, had Hilary Swank never been born, she might be a two-time Best Actress winner. Bening's performances in American Beauty and Being Julia were beaten at the Oscars by Swank's performances in Boys Don't Cry and Million Dollar Baby. This year, Bening won't win (Helen Mirren is a lock), but she is an almost-certain nominee for this over-the-top and ultimately sympathetic performance as Augusten's bi-polar mother.
Brian Cox is also brilliant as the highly unorthodox shrink at the center of the film's universe, and he's a strong bet for either a Best Actor or Best Supporting Actor nomination. He has long been one of the world's inest actors with emorable turns as the first Hannibal Lecter (in Michael Mann's Manhunter) and as a child molester with a heart of gold in L.I.E.. Jill Clayburg, a Best Supporting Actress possibility, gives the film a third award-worthy performance.
It's far from perfect and a little long, but Running With Scissors has some fascinating performances and very funny moments. Despite being on just 600 screens, it should score $2-$4 million this weekend.
Running with Scissors (Sony) – By The Numbers
Top 5 Annette Bening Films – Domestic Box Office
1. American Beauty - $130,096,000
2. The American President - $60,079,000
3. Open Range - $58,331,000
4. Bugsy - $49,114,000
5. Regarding Henry - $43,001,000
Top 10 Alec Baldwin Films – Domestic Box Office
1. Pearl Harbor - $198,542,000
2. The Hunt For Red October - $122,012,000
3. Fun With Dick & Jane - $110,332,000
4. The Aviator - $102,610,000
5. The Cat In the Hat - $101,145,000
6. Along Came Polly - $88,097,000
7. The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie - $85,417,000
8. Beetle Juice - $73,707,000
9. Working Girl - $63,779,000
10. The Royal Tenenbaums - $52,364,000
Top 10 Brian Cox Films – Domestic Box Office
1. X2 - $214,949,000
2. The Bourne Supremacy - $176,241,000
3. Troy - $133,378,000
4. The Ring - $129,128,000
5. The Bourne Identity - $121,661,000
6. Braveheart - $75,609,000
7. The Rookie - $75,600,000
8. Kiss the Girls - $60,527,000
9. Red Eye - $57,891,000
10. For Love of the Game - $35,188,000
Top 5 Movies About Mental Illness – Domestic Box Office
1. A Beautiful Mind - $170,742,000
2. Fatal Attraction - $156,645,000
3. As Good As It Gets - $148,478,000
4. One Flew Over the Cukoo's Nest - $108,091,000
5. The Aviator - $102,610,000
Also this weekend, in limited release:
Death of A President (NewMarket Films) – 91 screens
Conversations With God (IDP Films) – 65 screens
Babel (Paramount Vantage) – 7 screens
Shut Up & Sing (The Weinstein Company) – 4 screens
Cocaine Cowboys (Magnolia) – 12 screens
Deliver Us From Evil (Lions Gate) – Expands to 21 screens
Infamous (Warner Independent) – Expands to 136 screens
Here are the weekend box office projections from your humble columnist and
independent theatre owner:
1. Saw III - $34 million
2. The Departed - $8.5 million
3. The Prestige - $8 million
4. Flags of Our Fathers - $7.5 million
5. Open Season - $6 million
*Catch a Fire - $3 million
*Running With Scissors - $2 million
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