Weekend Box Office Report: December 26 to 28: Who Says Dogs Don’t Make for Great Gifts?

Both Marley & Me and The Curious Case of Benjamin Button set records this Christmas.  The
latter’s one-day tally of $12 million would become the second biggest Christmas
day opening of all time.  That
said, the one with the dog made $14.7 million that same day and you know what
that means.  It means that people
like Jennifer Aniston better than they like Brad Pitt.  No, that’s dumb.  It doesn’t mean that at all.  What it likely means is that people
like fun, simple fare with dogs on Christmas day more so that long, epic
romances.  Marley & Me went on
to win the weekend, surpassing all expectations with a $51 million total gross
over the four days.  The Curious Case of Benjamin Button also performed very strongly and could have placed even
higher if it weren’t for its 2 ½ hour running time. 

One film came in between Brad & Jen and that would be
the Adam Sandler family comedy,Bedtime Stories.  Originally, this film was expected to take the weekend as it
had the strongest family appeal. Marley & Me came running from behind like a dog after a moving car
to reach past its built-in couple audience to snag a good chunk of the families
as well.  As a result, Bedtime Stories had to settle for second place and only the third biggest Christmas day
opening ever.  Opening in fourth,
was a solid placement for the Tom Cruise vehicle, Valkyrie.  The Bryan Singer WWII thriller
performed consistently throughout the four days of its release and ever
averaged higher than Bedtime Stories.

The Top 10 saw two other debuts and both would be considered
disappointing.  The fifth wide
release of the weekend was not even a consideration apparently.  Frank Miller’s first formal directorial
effort, The Spirit, opened in ninth place, with a pathetic average of just over
$2500 bucks.  It could pick up next
weekend when teenagers will returning to the multiplexes on their own after
their parents held them hostage this past weekend.  And Doubt went wide this holiday frame and though its
weekend take shot up over 700%, its average plummeted to a decent but not
amazing $4500.  Still, awards
season is only just beginning so I don’t doubt it will continue to perform as
long as the accolades continue to come in.

Platform releases love the month of December.  In the weeks ahead, adults will finally
find some time on their hands and will flock to see a great number of the Oscar
contenders as they continue to widen their screen count.  This weekend, the last major Best
Picture contender, Revolutionary Road, starring the reunited Kate Winslet and
Leonard DiCaprio, opened on just three screens in all of North America but
pulled in one of the biggest averages of the year with $64K per screen.  The picture goes wide January 9.  Averaging lower but still solidly were
the Oscar contenders, Last Chance Harvey and Waltz with Bashir.  The former is hoping for recognition
for Dustin Hoffman and Emma Thompson as lead actors but the competition is
tight this year and the former is Israel’s official submission for the Foreign
Language Oscar.  Each earned per
screen averages of $16K and $10K, respectively.

NEXT WEEK: Nothing.  There are no new wide releases next week.  Apparently, New Year’s is a time for leftovers in Hollywood.

Weekend Top 10