Retro IONCINEMA.com
Weekend Box Office Report: May 23-25: Indy whips up box office gold
Weekend Top 10
| # | Title | GROSS | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
| 1 | Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull | $101.0M | NEW | 4,260 | 1 | 23,708 | $126.0M | Paramount |
| 2 | The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian | $23.0M | -58.2 | 3,929 | 2 | 5,862 | $91.1M | Buena Vista |
| 3 | Iron Man | $20.1M | -36.7 | 3,915 | 4 | 5,146 | $252.3M | Paramount |
| 4 | What Happens in Vegas | $9.0M | -35.2 | 3,188 | 3 | 2,823 | $54.2M | Fox |
| 5 | Speed Racer | $4.0M | -50.7 | 3,112 | 3 | 1,285 | $36.2M | Warner Bros. |
| 6 | Made of Honor | $3.4M | -27.7 | 2,393 | 4 | 1,420 | $39.1M | Sony |
| 7 | Baby Mama | $3.3M | -29.0 | 2,158 | 5 | 1,539 | $52.1M | Universal |
| 8 | Forgetting Sarah Marshall | $1.7M | -40.2 | 1,078 | 6 | 1,545 | $58.2M | Universal |
| 9 | Harold & Kumar Escape from Guantanamo Bay | $0.9M | -54.2 | 750 | 5 | 1,220 | $35.9M | New Line |
| 10 | The Visitor | $0.8M | +16.1 | 270 | 7 | 2,892 | $4.4M | Overture |
What? Indiana
Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull is number one at the box office? How did that happen? Seriously, was anyone predicting this? I was expecting a full bomb. Dude is old and nobody cares.
No, but seriously, I’m not insane. The question was not whether Indy would claim the top spot
this weekend but rather just how much treasure he would unearth. Paramount decided to bow the film a day
early than the traditional Friday and collected an impressive $25 million from
the full day, including midnight screenings. The final three-day take has been estimated at $101
million. It’s amazing to me that a
figure that staggering could be considered disappointing but if you don’t set a
record these days than you’re nobody. Last years, Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End currently holds the record for highest gross over
the Memorial Day weekend with $139.8 million. Indy’s $126 million places the sequel in second place, just
ahead of X-Men: The Last Stand ($122.8 million).
Despite not breaking any records, nobody at Paramount is
complaining. How could they? They have essentially dominated the
first month of the summer box office season. Just look a couple of spots below Indiana and you’ll find
the hit that keeps on hitting, Iron Man. The summer favorite slipped off a scant
36% despite losing over 200 theatres. It also almost managed to outrank Prince Caspian in its second disappointing week. Families were clearly more interested
in the return of everyone’s favorite archeologist and the second Narnia
chronicle saw its returns fall off nearly 60%. It will most certainly turn a profit after running overseas
and selling tons of DVD’s but it is hardly striking the chord its predecessor
struck with audiences.
The rest of the Top 10 saw little activity of note. Managing a second week in the number 10
position is Overture’s The Visitor. Posting a 16% increase by adding
another 46 screens. Good word of
mouth has clearly gotten people interested in this fantastic film. If it keeps up this momentum, its star,
Richard Jenkins, may find his name being thrown around come Oscar time,
deservedly so.
Posting the highest per screen average below Indy is the
John Cusack satire, War, Inc. Now this actually is surprising for
me. Reviews have not been
favorable to say the least and Hilary Duff is in but that hasn’t seemed to slow
interest, just yet. The film
posted an average of over $18K on two screens and looks to expand next week. Now we’ll see just what word of mouth
can do.
NEXT WEEK: Will the Sex and the City fabulous foursome be able to dethrone Indiana
Jones? The wait hasn’t nearly been
as long but at least the gals have relevance on their side. Whatever way it comes down, it’s fair
to say the Liv Tyler / Scott Speedman thriller, The Strangers will be settling for third at best.
