Top 10 for September 1-4 (Labor Day Weekend), 2006 Summary: Sunday estimates are in.
Despite the entrance of two debuts this weekend Disney's football drama Invincible led all films over the 4-day Labor Day weekend with an estimated $15.2 million, pushing its 11-day take to a strong $37.8 million. Based on the true story of bartender-turned-kick return for the Philadelphia Eagles, the Mark Wahlberg starrer fell just 29% over the comparable Friday-Sunday portion of the weekend ($12.1m) in its sophomore frame, showing strong word of mouth to go along with solid reviews from critics. With the start of the NFL season just one week away, the film seems headed toward a similar total as Disney's 2002 sports drama The Rookie (also inspired by a true story), which opened to $16 million on its way to $75.6 million domestically.
Opening in second with an estimated $13 million ($10.3 over three days) was Jason Statham's new action-thriller Crank, which fell short of the actor's previous film The Transporter 2 ($20.1m opening over Labor Day), while besting 2002's The Transporter ($9.1m). Carrying an R-rating the Lionsgate release averaged $4,095 in 2,515 theaters over the Fri.-Sun. portion of the weekend, and will likely see hefty drops in the coming weeks.
Nicolas Cage's suspense thriller The Wicker Man opened close in third with an estimated $11.7 million over the four-day holiday frame, ending what has been a very painful summer for Warner Bros. After sustaining huge disappointments in The Ant Bully and Poseidon, the studio failed to revive its mega-franchise investment Superman Returns into the cash cow it envisioned. The studio ranks fifth overall in marketshare in 2006 behind Buena Vista, Sony, Fox and Universal.
On the flip side was Fox Searchlight's indie hit comedy Little Miss Sunshine, which took in an estimated $9.7 million over four days and $7.6 over the three day weekend. Enjoying perhaps the best word of mouth (and certainly critical acclaim) of any film in the top ten, the $8 million budgeted film has brought in a fantastic $35.8 million in just six weeks of mostly limited release. At its current pace the film seems headed for $70 million domestically which would make it the top grossing R-rated film release this summer.
Yari Film Group's period mystery The Illusionist expanded into 971 theaters nationwide, earning an estimated $8 million over the four-day weekend. Averaging a top ten best $8,261 per theater over the holiday frame, the film's three week cume now stands at $12.1 million. YFG plans to expand into an additional 400 theaters by Friday.
The animated comedy Barnyard has quietly become the sleeper hit animated film of the summer, earning a very strong $6.4 million in its fifth week of release. Showing no signs of slowing down, the $50m budgeted Paramount comedy has brought its five-week cume to an impressive $63.5 million and seems headed towards $80 million domestically.
With no hit debut leading the Labor Day charge the top ten films grossed an estimated $89 million over four days, down 3% from last year's comparable frame when Transporter 2 opened on top with $20.1 million.
Report by
Join us in the box office messageboard to talk about
the weekend or how next week's slate will fare.
