Top 10 for June 2-4, 2006 Summary: Sunday estimates are in.
Mutants devolved in favor of a battle of the ex's, as the Jennifer Aniston-Vince Vaughn romantic comedy The Break-Up rode a counterprogramming wave to the top spot this weekend, surprising industry analysts with a powerful $38.1 million opening. That makes it the third biggest debut ever for a romantic comedy, behind only two Valentine's Day blockbusters, last year's Hitch ($43.1m) and 2004's 50 First Dates ($39.9m). Launching in 3,070 theaters, the $52 million budgeted Universal picture shrugged off poor reviews in averaging a fantastic $12,395 per theater, giving the studio its best opening of the year.
Demographically, roughly two-thirds of all ticket sales for The Break-Up came from women, who have been largely ignored this summer. Marketing for the film seemed effortless for Universal, as Aniston and Vaughn provided plenty of off-screen fodder for the tabloids this year. It was the second biggest opening of Aniston's career, behind only 2003's Bruce Almighty with $68 million. The surprisingly strong debut was reminiscent of March's sleeper hit Failure to Launch. That film also withstood poor reviews to debut with $24 million, steadily making its way to $88 million domestically. Look for The Break-Up to have a similarly strong run domestically this summer.
After its record-shattering Memorial Day weekend, Fox's X-Men: The Last Stand fell a shocking 67% to an estimated $34.4 million, bringing its ten-day cume to $175.7 million. Though analysts had projected a large drop for the $210 million budgeted comic adaptation, the steep declines the film has experienced on a daily basis have to be disquieting for the studio. Word of mouth hasn't been particularly strong but the film still seems to be on target to break $230 million domestically, which would make it the highest grossing film in the trilogy.
DreamWorks Animation's animated family comedy Over the Hedge held strong in third with $20.6 million, falling a slight 24% in its third weekend and pushing its cume to an impressive $112.4 million. Although the film has been experiencing strong word of mouth, it faces stiff competition next weekend as Pixar-Disney's eagerly-awaited Cars rides into theaters.
The global phenomenon The Da Vinci Code took in another hefty $19.3 million, pushing its three week cume to $172.6 million domestically and a staggering $409 million internationally. That brings the film's worldwide total to a jaw-dropping $582 million, making it the second highest grossing film globally for the year behind only Fox/Bluesky's Ice Age: The Meltdown with a global haul of $626 million.
Rounding out the top five was Tom Cruise's spy actioner Mission: Impossible III, which fell a decent 33% to $4.7 million, pushing its cume to $122.7 million.
In limited release, the critically acclaimed global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth took in $1.3 million in just 77 theaters for a top ten best $17,299 average. Paramount Vantage plans on doubling the film's slate this next weekend, before launching the Al Gore film across North America in over 500 theaters on June 16th. Whether the film can capture the attention of audiences like last summer's sleeper-hit March of the Penguins ($77.4m) or 2004's record-breaking Fahrenheit 9/11 ($119.2m) will depend solely on word of mouth, since the film likely won't show on as many theaters as the two.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $127.9 million, up 2% from last year's comparable frame when Madagascar finished in the top spot with $28.1 million.
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