Super Bowl Frame Breeds Ugly Movie Weekend

Weekend Box Office Wrap-Up for February 2-4, 2007

By John Hamann

February 4, 2007

Look out, Bears fans. This man will make or break you.

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More quality cinema finishes third in Epic Movie, a movie that wasn't shunned enough in its second weekend to restore my faith in humanity. Epic Movie grossed $8.2 million in its second frame (more than it should have grossed in its first), and was off a wonderful 56% compared to last weekend. The top three movies this weekend averaged a 9% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes, including this 3% fresh masterpiece. Epic Movie most likely cost about $20 million to make, and has so far earned $29.4 million. That means more are coming, people, whether I like it or not.

Night at the Museum is simply running out of moviegoers willing to see it. In its seventh weekend, Night at the Museum earned $6.8 million, and was off 29%. The Ben Stiller flick has now earned a remarkable $225.4 million, and will probably top out at about $240 million domestically.

Fifth goes to Smokin' Aces, the crash, bang, shoot'em up from Universal. This entry also tanked hard this weekend, grossing $6.3 million, off 57% from last weekend. This one could finish with as much as $40 million, but we will have to see how it does against Hannibal next weekend. Currently, it sits with $25 million.

Stomp the Yard continues its surprising run, as this out-of-nowhere flick has been the only bright surprise of the New Year thus far. Stomp grossed a meager $4.2 million with a drop of 45%, but its damage has already been done. This $15 million picture has now grossed $56 million, about double my expectations.




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Seventh goes to Dreamgirls, which all of a sudden is somehow in danger of not hitting $100 million. Dreamgirls grossed $4 million from 2,797 venues, and was off a serious 40% from last weekend. The Paramount/DreamWorks flick has now earned $92.8 million.

Pan's Labyrinth finishes eighth, as distributor Picturehouse continues to try and propel it forward with more venues. Pan grossed another $3.7 million this weekend from 1,082 venues, which is an increase of about 250 from last weekend. Pan's Labyrinth cost about $20 million to make and has now earned $21.7 million. A couple of Oscar wins and this will be a huge hit on home video.

Ninth spot goes to The Pursuit of Happyness, Will Smith's Oscar-worthy effort. Pursuit grossed $3.1 million in its eighth frame, and drops 38% compared to last weekend. This rags-to-riches flick has performed just like its main character � after opening to $26.5 million, it has now earned $157.4 million, or about six times its opening weekend effort.

The Queen, another of the Oscar-nominated films, holds onto a top ten spot this week as it finishes with $2.7 million. The marvelous Helen Mirren film about the Royals now sits with $45.5 million domestically, an amazing amount for a film like this one.

Overall, this is an ugly weekend at the box office. The top ten grossed a sad $66.5 million, an awful amount, let alone in a weekend in February. Last year over the February 3rd - 5th frame, the top ten earned about $76.5 million � a heck of a lot better than this weekend. Next weekend could change things around significantly � Hannibal Rising is on the docket from The Weinstein Company, and Eddie Murphy's Norbit from Paramount also opens.


Top Ten for Weekend of
Rank
Film
Number
of Sites
Percentage Drop from Last Week
Estimated
Gross ($)
Cumulative
Gross ($)
1 The Messengers 2,528 New 14.5 14.5
2 Because I Said So 2,526 New 13.0 13.0
3 Epic Movie 2,840 -56% 8.2 29.4
4 Night at the Museum 3,003 -29% 6.8 225.4
5 Smokin' Aces 2,219 -57% 6.3 25.0
6 Stomp the Yard 2,169 -45% 4.2 56.0
7 Dreamgirls 2,797 -40% 4.0 92.8
8 Pan's Labyrinth 1,082 -23% 3.7 21.7
9 The Pursuit of Happyness 2,233 -38% 3.1 157.4
10 The Queen 1,850 -32% 2.7 45.5

Continued:       1       2

     


 
 

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