Top 10 for June 23-25, 2006 Summary: Final numbers are in.
Audiences got off the couch and into the cineplexes for Adam Sandler's remote control comedy Click, which dominated the marketplace in its opening weekend with an estimated $40 million. Averaging a top ten best $10,669 in 3,749 theaters, Sony's $82 million budgeted comedy cruised past two-week champ Cars, giving star Sandler his eighth number one debut. Teaming up once again with director Frank Coraci, whom he worked with on hits The Wedding Singer and The Waterboy, Sandler proved once again just what a bankable star he has become. Click became the comedian's seventh film to debut with over $35 million, and if estimates hold, it will be the star's fourth film to debut with $40+ million.
Though the debut fell short of Sandler's all-time best, last summer's $47.6m opening of The Longest Yard, Click was able to shrug off largely poor reviews as only a Sandler film can. With the big Fourth of July weekend coming up expect Click to surpass the $100 million mark within its first month of release.
After a two-week run at the top, Pixar's animated family film Cars slipped just 33% to an estimated $22.5 million, pushing its 17-day take to an impressive $155.9 million. The John Lassetter helmed film cruised by DreamWorks' own computer-animated offering Over the Hedge, which has grossed $144.5 million in six weeks of release. Starring the voice talents of Owen Wilson, Paul Newman, and Bonnie Hunt, the $120 million budgeted release is running $9 million ahead of Fox/Bluesky Studios' Ice Age: The Meltdown at the same point in that sequel's domestic run ($147m in three weeks), despite Cars opening with $8 million less in its debut weekend. In fact, the 33% drop in its third weekend is actually better than both Pixar's The Incredibles (47%) and Finding Nemo (39%), which should be a good indication of strong word of mouth. Look for the well-reviewed film to reach $250 million by the end of its domestic run, giving Pixar and Disney another bonafide blockbuster in their famed partnership.
Body-slammed in its second week of release was Paramount's Nacho Libre, which tumbled 57% to an estimated $12.1 million. Budgeted at a modest $35 million, the Jack Black wrestling comedy pushed its ten-day cume to $52.7 million, and should finish with a very profitable $75 million domestically.
The actioner Waist Deep opened with a remarkably strong $9.4 million to finish in fourth, despite launching in just 1,004 theaters. Averaging an impressive $9,414 per theater, the Tyrese Gibson starrer shrugged off mostly negative reviews thanks to excellent business in heavily urban markets.
Not surprisingly, the biggest drop in the top ten went to Universal's $75 million budgeted street racing sequel The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift, which slammed on the brakes in falling 62% to an estimated $9.2 million in its second week of release.
The drop was similar to the 63% drop from 2003's 2 Fast 2 Furious. In ten days, the film has grossed a decent $42.6 million, and should finish with roughly $60 million domestically.
The time-bending Keanu Reeves-Sandra Bullock romance The Lake House fell a decent 39% to an estimated $8.3 million, pushing the film's ten-day take to $29.2 million.
Fox's Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties fell 35% to $4.75 million, bringing its ten-day take to a disappointing $16 million. Out of the top ten was DreamWorks Animation's Over the Hedge, which fell 37% to an estimated $2.7 million. In six weeks, the film has grossed $144.5 million, and should finish with $155 million domestically.
In limited release, Paramount Vantage's critically-acclaimed global warming documentary An Inconvenient Truth widened from 403 to 514 theaters, grossing an estimated $1.9 million. That pushes the Al Gore doc to an impressive $9.5 million in five weeks, despite a very limited marketing campaign. IFC's crossword puzzle documentary Wordplay took in $326,000 in 45 theaters for a strong $7,244 average.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $120.9 million, up 7% from last year's comparable frame when Batman Begins held onto the top spot with $27.6 million.
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