Weekend Wrap-Up

Dancers Stomp Ben Stiller

By David Mumpower

January 15, 2007

I'd stomp her yard any day.

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As a fan of Brooke Langton and particularly Dominic Purcell, I am saddened to report that they are the stars of Primeval. The good news for both of them (as well as their agents) is that almost no one in North America will ever know this. Primeval debuts in eighth place with a paltry $7.0 million over four days. The critically reviled horror thriller, currently 15% fresh at RottenTomatoes, is going to be in and out of theaters in the blink of an eye. Hopefully, Purcell can find better work during the next Prison Break hiatus. As for Langton, her old buddy George Lucas is ramping up production of the final Indiana Jones movie. Maybe he will throw her a bone. Or maybe we could get a Replacements sequel.

Luc Besson stated going in that he knew absolutely nothing about the animated filmmaking process, and it's obvious that movie-goers can tell. Arthur and the Invisibles debuted in ninth place to $5.8 million over four days despite having a relatively wide 2,247 exhibitions. Like the other openers this weekend, critics hated Arthur & Co., with only 19% of reviewers at RottenTomatoes giving it the proverbial thumbs up. The expensive film cost $86 million, yet it has proven to be a financial disappointment in Besson's homeland of France and is nothing short of disastrous in North America. Worldwide audiences have spoken, Luc, and they want you to stick to action films. Maybe not even those.




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After a modest opening weekend of $11.5 million, little was expected of our tenth place finisher, Charlotte's Web. But the majesty of December legs has granted salvation to the timeless classic about a pig and a spider. Another $5.0 million over the four day holiday weekend gives the Nickelodeon/Paramount production an impressive running tally of $73.3 million. In this day and age, earning a factor of seven more box office than the opening weekend total is almost unheard of, even for December releases. It is safe to say that after a gloomy start, Charlotte's Web has circled back to being one of the bigger hits of the holiday campaign. With only one new title next weekend, it's not going to fade out of the top ten in the immediate future, either.

The top ten for the weekend combined for receipts of $110.7 million. This is a decrease of 3% ($3.7 million) from the Martin Luther King Jr. four-day period in 2006. The three opener combination of Glory Road, Hoodwinked and Last Holiday proved to be too much of a burden for Stomp the Yard plus the other lackluster openers of this weekend to overcome.


Top Ten for the Martin Luther King Jr. Holiday Weekend of 2007
Rank
Film
Number of
Sites
Estimated Gross
Cumulative Gross
1 Stomp the Yard 2,051 26.4 26.4
2 Night at the Museum 3,612 21.5 190.2
3 The Pursuit of Happyness 3,169 11.0 138.4
4 Dreamgirls 1,907 10.2 67.1
5 Freedom Writers 2,179 8.8 20.1
6 Alpha Dog 1,286 7.6 7.6
7 Children of Men 1,510 7.4 22.4
8 Primeval 2,444 7.0 7.0
9 Arthur and the Invisibles 2,247 5.8 5.8
10 Charlotte's Web 2,513 5.0 73.3

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