Top 10 for August 4-6, 2006 Summary: Final numbers are in.
Will Ferrell roared into first place this weekend with his hit comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, finally putting the former SNL funnyman into the same A-list category as such comedy heavyweights as Adam Sandler and Jim Carrey. Burning rubber with a massive $47 million estimated debut, Talladega Nights easily beat industry expectations and became the biggest debut of Ferrell's career in a starring role, surpassing his previous best opening of $31.1 million in 2003's smash hit Elf. 2004's Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy debuted in July 2004 with $28.4 million on its way to $85.2 million domestically.
Averaging an impressive $12,358 in an ultrawide 3,803 theaters, the $73 million budgeted Nascar spoof was buoyed by a very funny marketing campaign from Sony as well as solid reviews (critics polled by Rottentomatoes.com gave the film a "fresh" 75% recommendation rating). In addition to personal breaking records for Ferrell Talladega Nights also became the third highest opening in the history of August, behind only 2001's Rush Hour 2 with $67.4 million and 2002's Signs with $60.1 million. If word of mouth is as strong as expected, look for Talladega Nights to become one of the most successful comedies of 2006.
Also finishing ahead of industry expectations was Paramount's animated comedy Barnyard: The Original Party Animals, which took in an estimated $16 million in second. Averaging a solid $4,844 in an ultrawide 3,311 theaters, the opening was nearly double that of Warner Bros.' disappointing computer-animated film The Ant Bully, which took in just $8.4 million in its debut last weekend and just $3.9 million this weekend. Written and directed by Steve Oedekerk, the $51 million budgeted computer-animated release shrugged off disastrous reviews (just a 28% recommendation rating from critics polled by Rottentomatoes.com) thanks to a hefty marketing campaign from Paramount and Nickelodeon. With no other animated films coming until next month Barnyard has a mild chance at breaking even domestically if word of mouth is strong in the next few of weeks.
Disney's mega-blockbuster Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest fell 47% to an estimated $11 million in its fifth week of release, pushing its cume to a staggering $379.7 million. The Johnny Depp starrer is now the eighth highest grossing film of all-time, surpassing the $377 million domestic take of 2003's The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King. The film has been equally dominating overseas, taking in $57 million internationally to push its overseas cume to $392 million. That means the $225 million budgeted sequel has now brought in $771.7 million in just five weeks of release, making it a strong possibility the film could break $1 billion at the box office.
Opening in fifth was LionsGate's well-reviewed horror thriller The Descent with an estimated $8.8 million. Averaging a decent $4,200 in 2,095 theaters, the R-rated pic debuted far short off LionsGate's previous horror entries Saw and Hostel. Those two films took in $18.3 million and $19.6 million respectively, meaning that advertising dollars never quite drew in horror genre fans.
Last week's champ fell on its face in its sophomore frame, as Universal's $135 million budgeted Miami Vice dropped 62% to an estimated $9.7 million this weekend. In ten days the Michael Mann helmed tv adaptation has grossed $45.7 million, and looks certain to fall well short of the film's hefty budget.
In limited release, Fox Searchlight's indie comedy Little Miss Sunshine expanded from seven to 58 theaters, grossing an estimated $1.5 million. That's an incredible $25,169 per theater average, helping to bring its total to $2.2 million. With tremendous word of mouth, Searchlight will continue to widen the film's release slate to more markets nationally in the coming weeks.
Thanks to stronger than expected debuts by Talladega Nights and Barnyard, the top ten films grossed an estimated $115.7 million, up 18% from last year's comparable frame when The Dukes of Hazzard debuted at No. 1 with $30.7 million.
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