ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: "Ghost Rides" High Again at #1

Box Office Guru Wrapup: "Ghost Rides" High Again at #1

by Gitesh Pandya | February 26, 2007

Academy Award winner Nicolas Cage ruled Oscar weekend with his skull-on-fire motorcycle actioner "Ghost Rider," which held steady at number one in North America for the second straight time. Moviegoers delivered different verdicts to the handful of new releases led by the Jim Carrey thriller "The Number 23," which fared best and debuted in second place. Overall, the top ten was about even with the corresponding weekends from the last two years.

Dropping 57% from its powerful opening weekend, "Ghost Rider" took in an estimated $19.7M over the weekend and pushed its ten-day tally to a sensational $78.7M. The big-budget Sony actioner adapted from the popular Marvel comic book series suffered a decline similar to that of 2003's "Daredevil," which sank 55% in its second frame after an explosive bow over Presidents' Day weekend. That super hero flick captured 68% of its domestic total in the first ten days. "Ghost Rider" is so far following the same path which means a final gross of $115-120M seems likely.

Comedy guru Jim Carrey took a stab at horror with his new psychological thriller "The Number 23" and saw moderate results with a $15.1M launch, according to estimates. Playing in 2,759 theaters, the R-rated film averaged $5,476 per location for New Line. Critics were brutal to the scary pic, but the opening fared better than those of most of Carrey's previous non-comedies.

Disney's "Bridge to Terabithia" dropped 40% in its sophomore adventure and pulled in an estimated $13.6M in ticket sales. The PG-rated fantasy has banked an impressive $46.2M in ten days and may be heading for around $75M overall.

Fox saw a not-so-arresting debut for its cop comedy "Reno 911!: Miami," which opened in fourth place with an estimated $10.4M. The R-rated feature adapted from the moderately successful Comedy Central series averaged a mild $3,849 from a wide release in 2,702 theaters. By comparison, openings for other recent R-rated comedies based on popular television properties include $26.5M for "Borat" and $29M for "Jackass: Number Two," both of which bowed at number one.

Eddie Murphy's comedy "Norbit" dropped 42% to an estimated $9.7M in its third weekend raising its total to $74.7M for Paramount. Warner Bros. followed with its own comedy "Music and Lyrics," which pulled in an estimated $8M in its sophomore weekend. Down a reasonable 41%, the Hugh Grant-Drew Barrymore pic has taken in $32.1M in 12 days and could be headed for the $50M mark.

Universal's "Breach" dipped 41% in its second weekend to an estimated $6.2M. With $20.5M in ten days, the FBI thriller in on course for a $35M total. The Tyler Perry comedy "Daddy's Little Girls" lost half of its audience in the second weekend just like the director's last two February comedies. The Lionsgate release grossed an estimated $5.3M, down 53%, and has taken in $25.6M. Both "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" and "Madea's Family Reunion" made about 75% of their total grosses in the first ten days so a $35M final for Girls seems likely.

A pair of new releases rounded out the top ten. Warner Bros. saw a dismal opening for its Billy Bob Thornton drama "The Astronaut Farmer," which grossed an estimated $4.5M from 2,155 locations. Averaging a poor $2,093 per theater, the PG-rated film earned mixed reviews from critics.

Goldwyn's historical slave trade drama "Amazing Grace" enjoyed a solid bow with an estimated $4.3M from only 791 sites for a respectable $5,442 average matching "Ghost Rider's" per-theater average to the dollar. Reviews were mostly favorable.

Four films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend. The runaway smash "Night at the Museum" collected an estimated $2.2M in its tenth weekend and upped its total to $241.7M putting it at number 44 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters ahead of "My Big Fat Greek Wedding," which made $241.4M in 2002. "Museum" fell 41% this weekend and should go on to reach around $246M domestically and over $500M worldwide.

Universal's Diane Keaton comedy "Because I Said So" grossed an estimated $2.9M, down 44%, putting its cume at a decent $38.4M. A final gross of $43-45M seems likely. Sony's thriller "The Messengers" grossed an estimated $1.6M, tumbling 58%, for a $33.4M cume. The $16M production should conclude with a healthy $35M. MGM's "Hannibal Rising" has grossed about $26M to date and should end its run with only $30M.

The top ten films grossed an estimated $96.7M which was up 1% from last year when "Madea's Family Reunion" opened at number one with $30M; but off 2% from 2005 when "Diary of a Mad Black Woman" debuted on top with $21.9M.

Source: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com

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(1-14 of 14 posts) | Reply

unbreakable_samurai writes:
on Feb 26 2007 09:00 AM

I saw Breach which was pretty good(B), Cooper did a good job in it. I also saw The Abandoned which was ok(C) pretty confusing but had some cool moments.

(Reply to this)

Snoochieflagship writes:
on Feb 26 2007 12:26 PM

Ghostrider made me hit myself in the crotch for seeing it.

(Reply to this)

TomasSPAGHetti writes:
on Feb 26 2007 01:07 PM

BOOOOO

(Reply to this)

synergyred writes:
on Feb 26 2007 07:50 PM

Saw Ghost Rider on Sunday. Well... seeing it kinda made me wish that I had gone to see The Number 23 instead.

(Reply to this)

highdough writes:
on Feb 26 2007 10:22 PM

Why anyone would pay to see either Ghostrider or Number 23 mystifies me. It really does. If the trailers didn't stop you from seeing them, you'd think the overwhelming critical response to them would have. I can see discounting some critics, but nearly all of them? Even most of the critics who gave Ghostrider a favourable review thought it was so bad it was funny. Personally, I would not want to reward a movie like Ghostrider by giving it my money no matter how unintentionally funny it is. I think it's a travesty that Ghostrider has made more money than, among others, Pan's Labrynth, The Queen, Last King of Scotland, Letters From Iwo Jima, Babel, Children of Men, and Little Miss Sunshine in only two weeks. Until a potential viewer has seen those movies, they should not be allowed to see something like Ghostrider.

(Reply to this)

bigbrother writes:
on Feb 27 2007 08:25 AM

In reply to this comment (#856820)
Yes mein Fuhrer!!! We will not ze anysing that ze akedemy does noot tell uzz is gud. All free opinion will be stooped immidiately. Who cares if it has no artistic value. I haven't seen it personally, but I intend to because a lot of people said it was enjoyable. Not good, not groundbreaking, but enjoyable and sometimes that's all people are looking for in a film.

(Reply to this)

Kid_Ikarus writes:
on Feb 27 2007 09:26 AM

In reply to this comment (#856821)
Exactly. Well said, my friend.

(Reply to this)

highdough writes:
on Feb 27 2007 10:27 AM

In reply to this comment (#856821)
I saw it (didn't pay for it) and it was horrible. Not entertaining. I'm all for entertaining, but I also want good. The reason Hollywood makes so much crap is because morons continue to lfork over their money for crap like Ghostrider and Number 23. I don't need groundbreaking or Academy Award quality films. I just need quality films, whether they are movies like Casino Royale, Borat, The Departed, hell even Superman Returns was enjoyable.

My point, which you obviously missed in your anticipation to see Nicolas Cage in a bad hairpiece, is that people need to support quality movies of any genre if they want Hollywood to make better films.

(Reply to this)

Merlin235 writes:
on Feb 27 2007 01:38 PM

Anyone catch the irony of someone with the screen name 'bigbrother' criticizing big government? ha, I thought that was funny.

(Reply to this)

bigbrother writes:
on Feb 27 2007 02:37 PM

In reply to this comment (#856824)
Where exactly did I criticise the government? I was making light of the Academy Awards and people tendency to fall in line with that Academy's way of thinking. However, you probably should consider that someone who uses the screen name bigbrother might be paying homage to Orwells classic which is one of the most damning indictments of govt control on our lives ever written and is in no way supporting invasion of your privacy and is certainly not going through your trash as we speak...oops I've said too much. Go back to work people nothing more to see here. The beatings will stop as soon as morale improves.

(Reply to this)

Merlin235 writes:
on Feb 27 2007 02:59 PM

In reply to this comment (#856825)
Bro (I'm assuming you're a guy), if you can't catch the irony in the situation, I don't think I can help you. But I'll try. It's subtle. I have no idea why you use the screen name you do. Here is the irony: that you, of all people who surf this site, would respond in the manner you did was ironic. That's all. You could have reamed the person for being closed minded, artistically challenged, stupid, whatever. Here, maybe this will help:
Irony:"the use of words to express something other than and especially the opposite of the literal meaning"
Now, look at your screen name (Bigbrother) and the fact that you were poking fun by pretending to be in a totalitarian system. There ya go. That's as good as I can do. Of course, now that I've explained it, it isn't funny.....

(Reply to this)

highdough writes:
on Feb 27 2007 05:06 PM

In reply to this comment (#856826)
It still makes it funny, but just in a different way.

(Reply to this)

bigbrother writes:
on Feb 28 2007 05:09 AM

In reply to this comment (#856826)
Come on, I was just having fun with it, now you've taken it too far and sucked all the fun out of it....Stormtroopers and the morale suppression team will be at your house momentarily.

(Reply to this)

synergyred writes:
on Feb 28 2007 04:50 PM

In reply to this comment (#856820)
Gee Mr. Critical perhaps I was just curious? Or perhaps I was seeing it with my boyfriend and I had picked the movie last time (it was Children of Men, if you cared), so it was his time to choose? Please don't be so quick to judge.

(Reply to this)

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