ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Moviegoers Line Up for Museum For Third Straight Weekend

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Moviegoers Line Up for Museum For Third Straight Weekend

by Gitesh Pandya | January 08, 2007

There was no stopping the runaway smash comedy Night at the Museum which North American audiences picked as their favorite film for the third straight weekend. New releases were met with varying levels of success. Both the futuristic saga Children of Men and the high school drama Freedom Writers earned high marks while playing in moderate national play. However, the animated film Happily N'Ever After and the action-comedy Code Name: The Cleaner were both met with soft openings.

Overall, the first weekend of 2007 was solid and holdovers displayed considerable strength as audiences continued to find time to see all the interesting films in the marketplace. A remarkable 14 movies collected weekend sales of $4M or more giving the box office great breadth.

The Ben Stiller comedy Night at the Museum easily topped the charts over the weekend with an estimated $24M in its third weekend of play boosting its cume to a stellar $164.1M. Down only 35% from the Friday-to-Sunday portion of the New Year's holiday frame, the Fox blockbuster matched the comedian's hit Meet the Fockers from two years ago which also topped the charts over the same three weekends. With its lucrative start and impressive holding power, Museum should be able to zoom past the $200M mark domestically.

Will Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness also stayed put for the third straight weekend taking the number two spot again with an estimated $13M. The Sony hit enjoyed the smallest decline in the top ten slipping only 33% and pushed its cume to $124.2M. Pursuit could be headed for $160M or more.

Adult audiences responded to Alfonso Cuaron's futuristic drama Children of Men which expanded nationally in its second weekend and took third place with an estimated $10.3M. The critically acclaimed Universal release averaged a sturdy $8,515 from 1,209 theaters and has collected $11.9M since its limited opening a week earlier.

Hilary Swank saw impressive results for her school teacher drama Freedom Writers which debuted in fourth place with an estimated $9.7M from only 1,360 theaters. Averaging a strong $7,136 per location, the PG-13 film from Paramount and MTV Films connected with a young and multicultural audience. According to studio data, 62% of the audience was under the age of 21 and 50% were non-white. The road ahead for Freedom looks promising as the film scored an exceptionally high A grade from CinemaScore and 93% of those polled would definitely recommend it. Paramount will widen the picture on Friday into 700 more theaters for the Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. school holiday weekend.

The studio's hit musical Dreamgirls followed in fifth place with an estimated $8.8M in its second full weekend of wide release, off 37%. The Jamie Foxx-Beyonce Knowles pic upped its total to $54.5M and continues to post the best average in the top ten with a stellar $10,358 from 852 sites. Paramount will add about 1,000 more theaters on Friday.

Family audiences were not too charmed by the new animated offering Happily N'Ever After which opened in sixth place with just $6.8M, according to estimates. The PG-rated fairy tale satire averaged a lukewarm $2,856 from 2,381 locations for Lionsgate and could not compete with Night at the Museum which continued to dominate the family crowd.

Competing kidpic Charlotte's Web followed closely with an estimated $6.6M for Paramount, down 43%, pushing the cume to $67M. Universal's CIA thriller The Good Shepherd ranked eighth with an estimated $6.5M, off 41%, for a mediocre $48.4M sum.

Rocky Balboa punched up an estimated $6.3M for MGM dropping 41% and raised its cume to an impressive $60.9M. Rounding out the top ten was another sports drama, the football saga We Are Marshall, which fell 37% to an estimated $5.1M giving Warner Bros. an underwhelming $35.4M to date.

Debuting poorly in eleventh place was the action-comedy Code Name: The Cleaner which bowed to an estimated $4.6M from 1,736 for a messy $2,650 average. The New Line release stars Cedric the Entertainer and Lucy Liu.

Three films fell from the top ten but still generated weekend grosses of $4M or more. The fantasy adventure Eragon took in an estimated $4.6M, down 44%, for a $66.8M total to date. Tied with $4M a piece were the Cameron Diaz comedy The Holiday and the penguin toon Happy Feet. Sony's holiday comedy fell 41% and upped its sum to $59M while the animated smash dropped 48% lifting its cume to $185.4M.

Several arthouse films in limited release expanded over the weekend. Fox Searchlight's Judi Dench pic Notes on a Scandal expanded from 22 to 93 theaters and grossed an estimated $1.1M for a potent $11,828 average. The film widens to over 200 sites on Friday and then into over 600 playdates on January 26. Cume is $2M. Paramount's Perfume was not as successful in its expansion going from three to 280 sites grossing an estimated $551,000 for a weak $1,968 average. Total to date stands at $649,000.

Warner Independent went from 37 to 72 theaters for its period drama The Painted Veil and grossed an estimated $480,000. Averaging a solid $6,667, the pic has taken in $1.2M to date and will expand to 200 runs on Friday. MGM's Miss Potter continues to attract mediocre numbers grossing an estimated $123,000 from 26 playdates for a mild $4,731 average. Cume is $140,555 for the Renee Zellweger film.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $97.2M which was off 1% from last year when Hostel opened at number one with $19.6M; and up 4% from 2005 when Meet the Fockers remained on top in its third weekend with $28.5M.

Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com

Related Items

Movie:	Night at the Museum
	Freedom Writers
	Code Name: The Cleaner
	Happily N'Ever After

(1-9 of 9 posts) | Reply

ozoz writes:
on Jan 08 2007 09:58 AM

Freedom Writers was good. Children of men did OK. It has a long way to go if it is going to make its 76 million back. Happy to see Dreamgirls still have the best theaters AVG. It comes out wide this weekend.

(Reply to this)

nogard64 writes:
on Jan 08 2007 10:14 AM

Best theatre average means so little! They open it in fewest screens and in the biggest city, of course they will pack the house.

I am happy to see Pursuit doing so well, it really is turning into a boxoffice jugernaught! Kudos to Will Smith for doing a great and very brave performance.

Saw Children of men its a really great film but not for everyone.

Next two movies hoping to see are Inland Empire and Curse of The Golden Flower

(Reply to this)

ozoz writes:
on Jan 08 2007 10:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#852454)
Best theatre average means so little! They open it in fewest screens and in the biggest city, of course they will pack the house.

You are right, But when a movies makes 55 million in 14 days playing in 852 theaters. That means alot alot. the film will be put into 1852 theaters this weekend were it could make as much as 79 million in 3 weeks.

(Reply to this)

nogard64 writes:
on Jan 08 2007 10:56 AM

In reply to this comment (#852455)
haha maybe in Dreamgirl land you can extrapolate data like that, but in the real world it wont work.

(Reply to this)

curtis writes:
on Jan 08 2007 11:10 AM

In reply to this comment (#852456)
Yes Dreamgirls is doing very well. Making almost 55 million playing only in 852 theaters is great. But why is Dreamgirls doing well. Maybe because it has an 80% on rotten tomateos with an 85% COTC. Maybe because it has 5 globs nods. Maybe because PGA and a Sag Nod. Who know why it is doing well. When it comes out wide this weekend it will make past 75 million. The rest is just money in the bank.

(Reply to this)

daycare writes:
on Jan 08 2007 11:17 AM

In reply to this comment (#852457)
Dreamgirls is doing well because it is the best reviewd musical sice Chicago. That is why it has made more then all the other after Chicago. The studio is very smart on how they are putting out Dreamgirls. By friday Dreamgirls would have made 60 million befour it comes out wide. the Budget for the film was 70 million so if it makes 10 million it is a hit. WOM is great for the film that is why people are packing the theaters. It will expand to 1,852 theaters on this MLK weekend witch is great. I wish they would have did the same thing for Childrean of men.

Chicago- 88%, COTC 94% Fresh Boxoffice 170 million

The Producers- 52% COTC 26%- Rotten Boxoffice 19 million

Rent- 47% COTC 41 - Rotten Boxoffice 29 million

Moulin Rouge- 76% CotC 65%- Fresh Boxoffice 51 million

The Phanton of the Opera- 33% COTC 28%- Rotten Boxoffice 51 million

AND

Dreamgirls- 80% COTC 85% Freash 55 million in just two weeks. Not even out wide yet.

Lets put it to rest. Dreamgirls was made to be a boxoffice hit just like NATM. The reviews are really helping the film also.

(Reply to this)

ozoz writes:
on Jan 08 2007 03:59 PM

Great, another hit movie for Beyoce. At least this film got good reviews.

(Reply to this)

Parenti writes:
on Jan 08 2007 09:03 PM

In reply to this comment (#852453)
Children of Men's foreign gross is very good so that should help them to make up their money.

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Jan 09 2007 09:33 AM

The Good Shepherd was ok, Damon was very unemontional which didn't help make it a very fast three hours, that is mostly talking in the first place. I screwed up and wasn't able to see Children of Men, so I guess I'll go see it this weekend. Hopefully Notes on a Scandal, and The Painted Veil keep doing well so they will eventually expand to my city.

(Reply to this)

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