The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Tuesday for final figures based on actual box office.
This has not been a good week for New Line with the announcement two days ago that the 40-year-old studio would become a division of Warner Bros., and the writing must have been on the wall for their big spring movie, Will Ferrell’s basketball comedy Semi-Pro, which opened in the top spot with just $15.2 million in over 3,100 theatres, a weak average of less than $5 thousand per theater. Its weekend estimate is roughly half what the movie was tracking to make as of Thursday night and one of the reasons that could be blamed might be the decision to make an R-rated comedy, limiting Ferrell’s younger fanbase. (Ironically, the film was written by the same screenwriter as Ben Stiller’s The Heartbreak Kid, another comedy which was expected to do well last fall based on its star, but bombed badly.)
Sony’s political thriller Vantage Point brought in $13 million in its second weekend, a respectable drop of 43% to second place with a 10-day total of $41 million. Also dropping one place to third, the Paramount fantasy epic The Spiderwick Chronicles earned roughly $8.7 million in its third weekend, having grossed $55.1 million domestically compared to its $90 million production budget.
Much of the female moviegoing audience this weekend flocked to see Sony’s period drama The Other Boleyn Girl, starring Natalie Portman, Scarlett Johansson and Eric Bana, based on the popular novel by Phillippa Gregory, taking in $8.3 million its initial weekend in 1,166 theaters, allowing it to score one of the top 3 per-theater-averages for the weekend with roughly $7,100 per site.
Fifth and sixth place were filled by Doug Liman’s sci-fi action flick Jumper (20th Century Fox) and the dance movie Step Up 2 the Streets (Touchstone) with $7.6 million and $5.7 million, respectively. Jumper is up to $66.8 million after three weekends compared to the Touchstone sequel’s $48.6 million gross.
After four weekends at the box office, the adventure-comedy Fool’s Gold (Warner Bros.), starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, has grossed $59 million with another $4.7 million added this weekend.
The second film from fledgling distributor Summit Entertainment, the romantic fantasy Penelope starring Christina Ricci, James McAvoy and Reese Witherspoon, grossed $4 million in just under 1,200 theaters to take 8th place.
After winning the Oscar for best picture, Joel & Ethan Coen’s No Country for Old Men expanded into 900 more theaters and ended up just below Penelope with another $4 million and a total gross of $69.6 million, and the Top 10 was rounded out by Juno, another Oscar winner for Diablo Cody’s screenplay, and also the highest-grossing Oscar nominee with $135 million including this weekend’s take of $3.35 million.
Neither of the new limited releases did particularly well with the Brazilian drama City of Men (Miramax) grossing just $122 thousand in 75 theaters and Brett Morgen’s animated documentary Chicago 10 (Roadside Attractions) averaging just $3,200 per venue in 14 theaters to open with $44.8 thousand.
After winning the foreign language Oscar last Sunday, the Austrian Holocaust drama The Counterfeiters (Sony Classics) made nearly twice as much in 18 theaters as it did its opening weekend, maintaining an average of over $11 thousand per venue.
The gross of the Top 10 movies was down significantly from last year, when Disney’s Wild Hogs and David Fincher’s Zodiac topped the box office, helping the Top 10 to gross $103 million, 28% more than this weekend’s Top 10 movies.
Click here for the full box office estimates of the top 12 films.
