ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Wrapup: "Museum" Opens at #1 on Christmas Weekend

Box Office Wrapup: "Museum" Opens at #1 on Christmas Weekend

by Gitesh Pandya | December 26, 2006

Ben Stiller ruled Christmas weekend for the second time in two years with his new effects-driven comedy "Night at the Museum" which opened at number one with an estimated $30.8M, according to figures released by Fox.

The PG-rated pic averaged a muscular $8,358 from an ultrawide release in 3,685 theaters including Imax venues. Two years ago, Stiller topped this same holiday weekend with "Meet the Fockers" which bowed to $46.1M in three days and $70.5M over five days.

Fox did not report a four-day Friday-to-Monday holiday gross for "Museum," but the comedy should be able to collect more than $40M over that period. According to official studio figures, Friday bowed to $12.4M, Saturday saw a slight 3% increase to $12.8M, and Sunday is projected to tumble 56% to $5.6M. The overall box office always falls sharply on Christmas Eve, but enjoys a vibrant rebound on Christmas Day when moviegoers have more time to visit their local multiplex.

Most studios reported three-day estimates and many will also report four-day estimates on Monday, Christmas Day.

Sony saw its Will Smith drama "The Pursuit of Happyness" fall one notch to second place with an estimated $15M over three days. The true-life tale dropped 44% from its opening weekend and raised its ten-day cume to $53.3M.

Opening in third place was Sylvester Stallone's "Rocky Balboa" with an estimated $12.5M in three days and $22.2M over the five days since its Wednesday debut. The MGM pic averaged a respectable $4,143 over the Friday-to-Sunday period from 3,017 locations.

Oscar winners Matt Damon and Angelina Jolie saw their new CIA thriller "The Good Shepherd" bow in fourth place with an estimated $10M from 2,215 theaters for a good $4,505 average over three days. Directed by Robert De Niro, the frame's only new R-rated pic played to an adult audience with studio data showing that the audience was 73% over the age of 30 and 53% male. Universal projected that the four-day tally will reach $13.9M.

In fifth place was Paramount's family film "Charlotte's Web" with an estimated $8M over three days, off 30%, for a cume of $26.8M after ten days. Fox's fantasy adventure "Eragon" followed stumbling 69% in its second weekend to an estimated $7.2M. The dragon tale has taken in $37.6M in ten days.

The football drama "We Are Marshall" opened in seventh place with an estimated $6.6M from 2,606 venues for a lukewarm $2,548 average for Warner Bros. The studio's penguin film "Happy Feet" followed in eighth with an estimated $5.1M, down 39%, for a $159.1M sum.

Sony's "The Holiday" dropped 38% to an estimated $5M giving the Cameron Diaz-Kate Winslet film $35.1M to date. New Line rounded out the top ten with "The Nativity Story" which climbed up 1% to an estimated $4.7M raising its total to $31.4M.

In limited release, Warner Independent opened "The Painted Veil" in four theaters and grossed an estimated $47,000 in three days for a strong $11,750 average. Since its Wednesday launch, the Edward Norton period pic has collected $68,000 and on Friday the distributor will expand to 37 locations.

Miramax's Peter O'Toole pic "Venus" bowed to an estimated $36,000 from three venues for a promising $12,079 average. Cume since Wednesday stands at $42,000.

Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com

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(1-10 of 10 posts) | Reply

digitalrelic writes:
on Dec 26 2006 06:39 PM

Rocky got robbed!

(Reply to this)

Mr.Pibb+RedVines writes:
on Dec 26 2006 07:35 PM

Eragon sucked i am glad it is out of the top five I wasted 6 dollars trying to see if it would live up to the book and it totally bombed

(Reply to this)

wilkiedriver writes:
on Dec 26 2006 09:17 PM

[b]You saw Eragon? I'm sorry to hear that...[/b]
22.2 Million for Rocky. Sounds like it sucks (and it does), but think about this...

- Families (and relatives) went to go see "Museum"

- The, how do you say, "ethnic" crowd and Will Smith lovers went to see "Happyness"

If you don't take that for anymore than what it is, how much crowd is left for Rocky, being that most Americans don't see more than one movie a weekend? Not much.

(Reply to this)

Maxim writes:
on Dec 26 2006 10:11 PM

In reply to this comment (#851710)
Rocky Balboa had a production budget of $24 million. It has made $26.6 million within its first five days.

It is a critical and financial success.

(Reply to this)

Ashron writes:
on Dec 27 2006 06:19 AM

In reply to this comment (#851711)
Critical success, perhaps, but it's not a financial success yet. Conventional wisdom is that a film has to make three time it's production budget to become profitable (to account for advertising and other expenses). It may eventually become profitable, but it isn't there yet.

(Reply to this)

BuckRogers writes:
on Dec 27 2006 06:31 AM

Did "Night at the musuem" cost 24 million to make...i don't think so. It failed and Rocky kicked it's arse. Also Rocky Balboa is critical success (who would have thought?) and a house hold name the world over, it doesn't open here till the 1st of February (Australia) why the wait?, Rocky movies used to always open on Boxing Day in Oz. I can't wait.

(Reply to this)

new12play writes:
on Dec 27 2006 09:03 AM

Well, I believe Rocky is already a success. It will, no doubt, make at least 60 million at the box office, plus take into account the looming DVD sales and the movie will no doubt please the studio. As an avid fan of the Rocky series, I was very pleased. The nostalgic feel of the movie, and the surprisingly rousing story, left me with complete satisfaction of how they finished off the series of one of the greatest fictional characters of all time. I think Rocky Balboa actually plays Sylvester Stallone in real life. I hope the movie shows good legs throughout the next month, and possibly reach that coveted 100 million mark. Either way, I'm very pleased with the finished product.

(Reply to this)

nogard64 writes:
on Dec 27 2006 12:17 PM

wow Crapalyto is really raking in the dough!

NOT!!!

(Reply to this)

sox1919 writes:
on Dec 28 2006 11:48 AM

In reply to this comment (#851715)
You must be a Jew.

(if you don't get the joke and are easily offended, then by all means, pull your internet out of the wall, lock your doors, pully our shades, and get OUT of the world)

(Reply to this)

bigbrother writes:
on Dec 28 2006 02:53 PM

In reply to this comment (#851712)
whoa whoa whoa, 3 times it's production budget!?!?! What film spends twice as much on advertising as it does on production? That sounds like you just pulled that out of your butt to me, so by that logic Superman Returns would have had to have been one of the top 5 grossing films of all time just to make a marginal profit. I would guess with advertising included Rocky would need to make just north of 40 million on the outside to turn a profit. Which it will easily do. Final verdict: Financial success

(Reply to this)