Retro IONCINEMA.com
Weekend Box Office Report: June 6 to 8: You Don’t Mess with the Panda
Weekend Top 10
| # | Title | DATE | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
| 1 | Kung Fu Panda | $60.0M | NEW | 4,114 | 1 | 14,584 | $60.0M | Dreamworks |
| 2 | You Don’t Mess with the Zohan | $40.0M | NEW | 3,462 | 1 | 11,554 | $40.0M | Sony |
| 3 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | $22.8M | -49.0 | 4,190 | 3 | 5,442 | $253.0M | Paramount |
| 4 | Sex and the City | $21.3M | -62.6 | 3,325 | 2 | 6.409 | $99.3M | New Line |
| 5 | The Strangers | $9.3M | -55.8 | 2,477 | 2 | 3,750 | $37.7M | Rogue |
| 6 | Iron Man | $7.5M | -44.5 | 2,931 | 6 | 2,566 | $288.9M | Paramount |
| 7 | The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | $5.5M | -56.5 | 3.065 | 4 | 1,803 | $125.9M | Buena Vista |
| 8 | What Happens in Vegas | $3.4M | -49.1 | 2,366 | 5 | 1,437 | $72.2M | Fox |
| 9 | Baby Mama | $0.8M | -64.5 | 922 | 7 | 844 | $57.9M | Universal |
| 10 | Made of Honor | $0.8M | -59.5 | 744 | 6 | 1,047 | $44.7M | Sony |
Going into this weekend, it was anybody’s guess who would
end up on top. In one corner,
Dreamworks’ Kung Fu Panda was ready to
fill a void in the family market that hadn’t been tapped since Horton
Hears a Who! In the other corner though was perennial audience favorite,
Adam Sandler in You Don’t Mess with the Zohan. Somehow Sandler manages to justify his paycheck over and over again
despite the increasing stupidity of his projects. Panda’s $20
million Friday bow compared with Zohan’s $15 million though pretty much solidified a winner. Especially when you consider Panda’s audience was only going to get bigger from there.
The Sex and the City gals
suffered a steep drop off that pushed them down from the top and found them
underneath Indiana Jones (Oh
Indy, you dog.). Frankly, I’m
surprised they still managed to make this much this weekend. I figured anyone who wanted to see the
film did so last weekend but there were still groups of girls planning to get
all dressed up and descend upon the multiplexes in packs. The film has pulled in just about $100K
in less than two weeks by playing solidly every day this week, proving the
value of the female dollar at the box office.
A number of specialty films platformed or expanded this
weekend to varying results. New
this week, the Anand Tucker directed father/son drama, When Did You Last See
your Father? Opening on 8 screens, the film pulled in a modest $5K per
screen average. With an even smaller
per screen of $4.8K, The Promotion,
a film starring Seann William Scott and John C. Reilly that for some reason
beyond my understanding was not released wide, under delivered when it hadn’t
even over promised. Savage
Grace has generated some very hot buzz for
star, Julianne Moore’s smoldering performance (including Ioncinema’s Eric
Lavallee), but the positive reviews have yet to draw in the crowds. The film is not for everyone but a per
screen average of $3.4K in your second weekend might make it a film for hardly
anyone.
Only one film debuted this weekend to encouraging
results. A nominee this last year
for Best Foreign Language film at the Academy Awards, Mongol, an account of Genghis Khan’s early years before
becoming an infamous conqueror, amassed the highest per screen average in the
entire chart. $26.6K on five
screens will land the film in the Top 20 and strong word of mouth could find it
nearing the Top 10 very soon.
NEXT WEEK: There will be another throwdown next week at the
Box Office. Who do you think would
win in a fight? M. Night Shyamalan
or The Hulk? Right, it’s not that
hard to figure out. Shyamalan’s The
Happening will take the backseat to
Marvel’s attempt to repackage their old favorite, The Hulk. Both
have a lot of pressure to perform as the last time each of these characters
found themselves in theatres, embarrassing results ensued.
