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Weekend Box Office Report: June 20 to 22: Smarts over Enlightenment
Weekend Top 10
| # | Title | GROSS | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
| 1 | Get Smart | $39.2M | NEW | 3,911 | 1 | 10,011 | $39.2M | Warner Bros. |
| 2 | Kung Fu Panda | $21.7M | -35.4 | 4,053 | 3 | 5,354 | $155.6M | Dreamworks |
| 3 | The Incredible Hulk | $21.6M | -61.1 | 3,508 | 2 | 6,145 | $96.5M | Universal |
| 4 | The Love Guru | $14.0M | NEW | 3,012 | 1 | 4,648 | $14.0M | Paramount |
| 5 | The Happening | $10.0M | -67.2 | 2,986 | 2 | 3,348 | $50.3M | Fox |
| 6 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | $8.1M | -42.9 | 3,171 | 5 | 2,653 | $290.8M | Paramount |
| 7 | You Don’t Mess with the Zohan | $7.2M | -56.0 | 3,278 | 3 | 2,196 | $84.1M | Sony |
| 8 | Sex and the City | $6.5M | -34.0 | 2,442 | 4 | 2,647 | $132.4M | New Line |
| 9 | Iron Man | $4.0M | -28.8 | 1,912 | 8 | 2,093 | $304.8M | Paramount |
| 10 | The Strangers | $1.9M | -51.6 | 1,578 | 4 | 1,235 | $49.6M | Rogue |
I never really understood why the people at Warner and
Paramount decided to go head to head with such high profile comedies starring
such bankable stars on the same weekend. Each studio
had plenty of time to change their plans but each remained stubborn and left
their respective pictures in place. And so was born the show down between Steve Carrell’s Get Smart and Mike Myers’ The Love Guru. I
especially considered the decision strange on Paramount’s part as The
Love Guru seemed like it would clearly be the weaker picture. As it turns out, critics weren’t impressed with either one
but Get Smart found at least a
few supporters. The results have
finally come in and Carrell’s take nearly tripled Myers’. I guess Myers will have to go back to
hiding his face behind that of a certain green ogre if he wants to keeping
making the money that justifies his asking price.
Last week’s battle of the titans saw both involved suffering
significant falls with different meanings in their second frames. The Incredible Hulk may have dropped off over 60% but this is still
less than the Ang Lee version from five years ago. Also, the film is still
pulling in a solid average and getting good fan reviews as it nears the $100
million mark. Meanwhile, audiences
almost unanimously rejected M. Night Shyamalan’s The Happening after having seen it in masses last week. The film fell nearly 70% and, unless
some toxin appears in the air that makes people gravitate to the film
unwittingly, I dare say it will continue to fall just as hard in the weeks
ahead.
The week’s most surprising showing in my opinion, which is
always off when it comes to this particular demographic, is the stellar debut of Kit
Kittredge: An American Girl. The film debuted in 16th place but managed to do so on only five screens in cities that have stores that
sell the popular doll the film was based on. The average from those screens amounted to $44,600, four
times the amount of Get Smart. The film goes ultra wide shortly and
this start most certainly has distributor, Picturehouse, reevaluating just how
wide they can really go with these little girls.
Foreign phenomenon, Mongol, also stretched its reach this weekend. The Oscar nominee added another 90 screens and saw its
business shoot up over 500% for a 13th place finish. The film has taken in over $1 million
dollars already and things are just getting started.
Mongol isn’t the
only foreign game in town though. UK export, Brick Lane, in
which a young Bangladesh woman leaves her home in the 80’s to make a life for
herself in London, made its North American debut this week to the tune of $50K
and a promising average $7,214.
NEXT WEEK … is brought to you by the letter “W”. Pixar’s Wall-E takes on the Angelina Jolie starring and Timur
Bekmanbetov directed Wanted. The Pixar pic, which I am desperate to
see, is opening on 800 more screens so should easily take the frame but I’ve
learnt a thing or two in my life about underestimating pretty women.
