Weekend Box Office Report: October 3 to 5: Gone to the Dogs

Weekend Top 10

I can still remember what it was like when I first saw the
trailer for Beverly Hills Chihuahua.  Essentially, my eyes were widened in disbelief and my mouth had dropped
all the way to my knees.  I thought
for a second that perhaps I had inadvertently taken acid.  There had to be a reasonable
explanation for the countless tiny dogs bobbing their heads and singing in
unison atop some Mayan temple.  No
matter though; surely no one would actually see this mess.  Once again, North American audiences
have proven me wrong.

Disney’s Beverly Hills Chihuahua opened to $29 million, laps
ahead of the rest.  Audiences were
clearly starved for supposed family fun, having been disappointed with recent
examples like Igor and Fly Me to the Moon.  To be fair, it isn’t just dogs in purses singing; these dogs
rediscover their Mexican roots.  These dogs are not just for show; they’ve got bite and they’ve bitten
deep into your pockets.  What a
treat!

This weekend was ridiculously overcrowded.  Hollywood put out seven wide titles and
somehow thought that they would each find their own audiences.  After all is said and done, only three
managed to make a connection.  The
second would be Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist.  The Michael Cera/Kat Dennings modern day romance averaged a
solid $5K and should play its run out reasonably with inevitably sound word of
mouth.  The third would be the
latest film from Larry Charles (Borat), Religulous, featuring Bill Maher as he gallivants
across the planet in search of truth in the world’s religions.  Maher’s loyal followers rung up the
film’s tally to a strong $7K per screen average.  These are solid numbers but nothing to start your own
religion with.

Word of mouth was also responsible for many holdovers
retaining strong grasps on their audiences.  Three titles (Eagle Eye, Burn After Reading and Fireproof)
all dropped off by less than 40% while the biggest decline wasn’t even that bad
(Nights in Rodanthe with 45%).  Then there’s that whole 3300% increase for Appaloosa, Ed Harris’s latest
directorial effort (having seen it yesterday, I will place the emphasis on
“effort”).  After two successful
weeks in limited release, the supposedly modern western expanded modestly for a
fifth place finish.  The more
modest expansion for The Duchess is seeing more promising results.  The film added another 72 screens and
saw its tally rise another 60%.  The film is slated to go nationwide on October 10.

As for the rest of the debuts, they will be listed in no particular
order of embarrassment.  First up, An American Carol.  This spoof,
which apparently makes statements about the downside of free speech, played on
three times as many screens as Religulous and mustered three times as less
cash.  Critical hopefuls, Flash of Genius and Blindness debuted outside the Top 10 despite their strong studio
pushes.  And How to Lose Friends and Alienate People proved perhaps once and for all that American audiences do
not love Simon Pegg, as the movie couldn’t even manage over a grand per screen.

The weeks littlest winner is certainly Rachel Getting Married.  Jonathan Demme’s
masterpiece debuted this week to nine screens before it goes wide on October 17
and pulled in the highest per screen of any film in release.  The $33K per screen is nearly four
times as much as this week’s ultimate champ,Beverly Hills Chihuahua.  Look for the sequel soon enough … Beverly Hills Chihuahua Getting Married … or maybe Rachel Getting a Chihuahua. 

Next Week: Another four releases go wide, the widest of
which is Ridley Scott’s latest Russell Crowe vehicle, Body of Lies, also
starring Leonardo DiCaprio.  Dennis
Quaid gives lessons in football and racism with The Express.  City of Ember aims to rob the dogs of
some of their family gold.  And Quarantine will try to trap horror fans into theatres before everyone inevitably gets “sawed”
into pieces.