ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup:Game Plan Rushes Past Kingdom For #1 Spot

Box Office Guru Wrapup:Game Plan Rushes Past Kingdom For #1 Spot

Feast opening less than lovely.

by Gitesh Pandya | September 30, 2007

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In a fierce head-to-head battle, The Rock's family comedy The Game Plan upset Jamie Foxx's action thriller The Kingdom this weekend and became the first PG-rated film since June to open at number one. The wrestler-turned-actor collected an estimated $22.7M in ticket sales for his first kidpic and exceeded industry expectations going into the weekend. Disney's latest hit comedy averaged a solid $7,307 from 3,103 theaters. Game marked The Rock's second biggest opening ever in a lead role after 2002's The Scorpion King which bowed to $36.1M.

The film is the latest to take a macho action star and put him in a family-friendly situation involving kids. In The Game Plan, The Rock plays a superstar quarterback and stylish bachelor who finds out he has a daughter. The studio found success with the same formula two years ago with Vin Diesel's The Pacifier which debuted much better than expected with $30.6M on its way to an amazing $113.1M. Game Plan also tapped into a family audience starving for entertainment as the past several weeks have been dominated by adult fare and R-rated movies for older teens. Studio research showed that 52% of the audience was female, 53% was under 25, and two-thirds of the crowd consisted of families. With a CinemaScore grade of A, and most October releases offering nothing exciting for kids, Disney should expect playability for many weeks to come.

Settling for the runnerup spot but still generating solid results was The Kingdom which premiered to an estimated $17.7M. The Universal release averaged an impressive $6,335 from 2,793 locations. Carrying the R rating, the Peter Berg-directed film finds Jamie Foxx leading a team of FBI agents into Saudi Arabia to investigate an attack on Americans living there. Critics were mixed in their reviews. Jennifer Garner, Chris Cooper, Jason Bateman, and Jeremy Piven co-star. Unlike Game Plan, Kingdom faced plenty of competition given that the marketplace offered several other serious films aimed at adult audiences.

Last weekend's top film Resident Evil: Extinction collapsed in its second frame tumbling 66% to an estimated $8M for a ten-day tally of $36.8M. The Sony threequel should finish up in the same neighborhood as its predecessor Resident Evil: Apocalypse which grossed $50.7M three years ago at the same time of year.

Lionsgate followed with a pair of pics. The romantic comedy Good Luck Chuck fell 54% to an estimated $6.3M for a cume of $23.6M in ten days. A $35M final seems likely. The Western 3:10 to Yuma grossed an estimated $4.2M, off only 32%, for a $43.9M total.

Jodie Foster's crime thriller The Brave One dropped 49% to an estimated $3.7M and raised its sum to $30.8M for Warner Bros. New Line's Billy Bob Thornton comedy Mr. Woodcock followed in seventh place with an estimated $3M, down 39%, giving the pic $19.6M to date.

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(1-10 of 10 posts) | Reply

SplendidIsolation writes:
on Sep 30 2007 06:29 PM

Ouch for Eastern Promises. Shame about the drop.
On the other hand, WOW for darjeeling. Looks like Linited release is where it`s at right now.

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knowingtoast85 writes:
on Oct 01 2007 01:55 AM

I don't want to sound like an ***, but limited releases with name talent like Darjeeling always do well before they expand. They premiere at theaters where people care most, in Los Angeles venues like the Arclight or the Grove, or in New York. If Darjeeling debuted to ten theaters in the midwest, it would have taken in about $20 total this weekend.

(Reply to this)

TombstoneLawDog writes:
on Oct 01 2007 06:26 AM

..I just can't help but feel righteously pissed-off on behalf of cast'n'crew of 'Kingdom' and movies like it.

You burn yourself to a crisp in an alien and potentially hostile environment (to my knowledge, actually filmed on location for a good part of movie) shooting some emotionally wrecking scenes, trying to make some sort or artistic sense out of current events, and then you get to see f#cking 'GAME PLAN' kick your *** at the box office.

And people wonder how Bush got re-elected...

Oh, and I'm well aware of differing markets, by the way. I have nothing against kids movies, just tired, hackneyed, used-a-couple-billion-times plots.

(Reply to this)

jdinc1998 writes:
on Oct 01 2007 09:56 AM

In reply to this comment (#1160212)
You are correct on this. I am a manager for a movie theatre in Manhattan, New York City and we opened with Darjeeling Limited and were selling out all day but if this movie came out wide release it wouldn't have done so well. Limited Release movies always do well the first weekend they are open and usually movie companies use this to their advantage to try and help it build buzz by showing it had sold out shows and it makes people think, who don't know it is only playing in a couple of theatres, that it must be that good if shows are being sold out.

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arendr writes:
on Oct 01 2007 10:30 AM

Go see The Assassination of Jesse James... if it's playing near you. That movie was fantastic. My favorite film this year so far.

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TheIceGhost writes:
on Oct 01 2007 12:08 PM

The Kingdom The 50 Ga-jillion movies coming out that are just like it=Blatant exploitation!

Is there something wrong with that? Not really... maybe a little, but this is how Hollywood has always run when there's a war about.

Personally, I'm happy to see a good ol' fashioned Disney movie lay the smack down on Jamie Fox's smug face.

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FMAN3448 writes:
on Oct 01 2007 01:16 PM

There is nothing "good ol' fashioned" about The Game Plan.

Nothing at all.

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~*Admiral Snowstorm*~ writes:
on Oct 01 2007 02:19 PM

I'd rather see just about any other movie out right now beat The Kingdom than The Game Plan, which fully deserved to be have been direct-to-DVD.

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Bloody Mathias writes:
on Oct 01 2007 04:10 PM

Well, when you think about it, Dad's and Mom's adult ticket plus a couple of the tike's child tickets brings in a lot more money than a couple of gung-ho action-craved 18 yr old guys. Smart move by Disney to stratgicly open it is weekend.

(Reply to this)

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Oct 02 2007 03:39 AM

Very nice to see a lot of independent movies doing well. Hopefully the keep expanding as I want to see the bulk of the one's that are mentioned. Very nice to hear that you liked Jesse James so much arendr, I'm really looking forward to seeing it. I did watch Feast of Love this weekend(C ), which could have been better. And In the Valley of Elah which was solid but tried to have more of a lasting effect than it did(B).

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