Super Bowl Frame Breeds Ugly Movie Weekend
Weekend Box Office Wrap-Up for February 2-4, 2007
By John Hamann
February 4, 2007
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.
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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