Weekend Top 10
# | Title | Jan 4 – 6 | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
1 | The Bucket List | $ 19.5M | 5,879 | 2,911 | 3 | $ 6,712 | $ 20.9M | Warner Bros. |
2 | First Sunday | $19M | 2,213 | 1 | 8,585 | $19M | Screen Gems | |
3 | Juno | $ 14M | -11.7 | 2,448 | 6 | 5,718 | $71.2M | Fox Searchlight |
4 | National Treasure:BOS | $11.5M | -42.8 | 3,337 | 4 | 3,400 | $187.2M | Buena Vista |
5 | Alvin & The Chipmunks | $ 9.1M | -41.5 | 3,384 | 5 | 2,689 | $187.7M | Fox |
6 | I Am Legend | $8.1M | -48.3 | 3,353 | 5 | 2,424 | $240M | Warner Bros. |
7 | One Missed Call | $ 6.1M | -51 | 2,240 | 2 | 2,736 | $20.6M | Warner Bros. |
8 | P.S I Love You | $5M | -36.1 | 2,323 | 4 | 2,154 | $47M | Warner Bros. |
9 | The Pirates Who Don’t do Anything | $ 4.4M | 1,337 | 1 | 3,305 | $4.4M | Universal | |
10 | Atonement | $4.3M | -15.1 | 950 | 6 | 4,526 | $25.2M | Focus |
Despite mostly tepid reviews, Rob Reiner’s The Bucket List topped the box office with $19M, which was better than expected as the film has been in limited release since the holidays, and has not done very well. Obviously stars Nicholson & Freeman have a lot of appeal to a broad audience- although I imagine the film will plummet next weekend. Meanwhile, the Ice Cube vehicle First Sunday opened to 17M- continuing Cube impressive run at the b.o. Although his films are always panned, they have a huge urban market- and he’s only had a few flops (XXX2 anyone?).
The real success story is Juno- which became the highest grossing film ever released by Fox Searchlight. Dropping a mere 11% it’s obvious the film has great legs, and will easily top $100M (maybe more). Atonement also did quite well, dropping 16%, adding another $4.2M to the $25M total. After taking home the Golden Globe for Best Drama, expect this film to ride it’s Oscar Buzz for the next month or so.
Surprising no one, the latest Uwe Boll opus, In The Name of The King opened to a disastrous $2.9M. Considering the film has a $65M budget- the film is going to go down as one of the biggest box office flops in recent memory. Hopefully it will discourage financiers from bankrolling Boll’s terrible films.
Specialty Top 10
# | Title | Jan 4 – 6 | % Chg. | Theaters | Weeks | AVG | Total | Distributor |
1 | Juno | $ 14M | -11.7 | 2,448 | 6 | $ 5,718 | $ 71.2M | Fox Searchlight |
2 | Atonement | $4.3M | -15.1 | 950 | 6 | 4,526 | $25.2M | Focus |
3 | The Orphanage | $ 2M | +302.6 | 707 | 3 | 2,850 | $3.15M | Picturehouse |
4 | There Will Be Blood | $1.86M | +40.8 | 129 | 3 | 14,421 | $51M | Paramount Vantage |
5 | The Kite Runner | $ 1.6M | -2.6 | 715 | 1 | 2,243 | $10.9M | Paramount Vanatge |
6 | No Country For Old Men | $1.232M | -32.2 | 657 | 10 | 1,875 | $46.7M | Miramax |
7 | The Diving Bell & The Butterfly | $ 0.347M | +0.5 | 75 | 7 | 4,632 | $1.96M | Miramax |
8 | The Savages | $0.3M | -33.3 | 92 | 2 | 3,316 | $3M | Fox Searchlight |
9 | Persepolis | $ 0.18M | +142.9 | 18 | 3 | 10,374 | $0.54M | SPC |
10 | Before The Devil Knows You’re Dead | $0.09 | -30.5 | 95 | 12 | 988 | $6.8M | Think |
There Will be Blood expanded to 129 playdates this weekend, and judging by the excellent $14,421 per screen average- it’s obvious this film will be around for awhile. The same cannot be said for The Savages, which has only made about $3M in limited release, and looks unlikely to go much further. No Country for Old Men continues to pull in respectable numbers. Having made over $46M, this film has become a big cross over hit for the Coen Bros. and should continue to do well over the Oscar season.
Persepolis also did quite well this weekend, with a good per screen average over $10,000. Whether or not the film will play outside of specialty markets remains to be seen.