Top 10 for September 15-17, 2006 Summary: Final numbers are in.
Despite the entrance of four new releases this weekend the box office continued its sluggish September with just three films grossing over $5 million. It was the second worst weekend of 2006, beaten only by the pathetic showing of last weekend. With the Fall season off to such a slow start, it might be up to...brace yourselves...Jackass: Number Two, along with Jet Li's Fearless, Flyboys, and All the King's Men to kick the season into gear next weekend.
Leading the charge was Gridiron Gang which became the second football-theme film in the past month to debut in the top spot (following Invincible's $17m bow four weeks ago), earning $14.4 million in a wide 3,504 theaters, averaging $4,114 per theater. Budgeted at a modest $30 million, the film became distributor Sony's 10th No. 1 debut of 2006, a new industry record. Despite topping the charts, the debut was the weakest of star Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson's career, failing to surpass both last year's Doom ($15.4m), and 2004's Walking Tall ($15.5m). His best is still 2002's The Scorpion King with $36 million. With overall negative reviews from critics, look for Gang to fade much faster than Disney's feel-good hit Invincible.
Opening with the best per theater average of any film in the top ten, Universal's noir-thriller The Black Dahlia debuted in second with $10 million. Directed by Brian De Palma, the $60 million budgeted release averaged a solid $4,495 in 2,226 theaters. Starring Josh Hartnett and Scarlett Johansson, Dahlia was poorly received by critics (just a 30% recommendation rating by critics polled by Rottentomatoes.com) and could have a tough time breaking even domestically.
Two other debuts were largely ignored by audiences, with Fox's animated baseball pic Everyone's Hero opening poorly in third with just $6 million and DreamWorks' romantic comedy The Last Kiss earning a weak $4.6 million in fifth. Despite the marketing prowess of Fox behind it Everyone's Hero, the ninth computer-animated film to saturate theaters this year, managed just $6.2 million in a very wide 2,896 theaters, averaging just $2,124. The poorly-reviewed pic suffered the second worst opening of an animated film this year, behind only box office dud Doogal's $3.6 million back in February.
Last week's champ The Covenant rounded out the top five falling 47% to an estimated $4.7 million, bringing its ten day take to $15.7 million. Falling out of the top ten were two of the biggest surprise hits of the last summer in Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby and the compuater-animated comedy Barnyard: The Original Party Animals. Talladega pushed its cume to $145 million while Barnyard has grossed $69 million.
The murder mystery Hollywoodland fell a top ten worst 54% to an estimated $2.7 million, pushing its ten day take to just $10.5 million. Look for the film to bow out with just $15 million domestically.
In limited release, Echo Film's Artie Lange's Beer League managed just $320,000 in 164 theaters for an anemic $1,951 per theater.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $57.4 million, down 14% from last year's comparable frame when the romantic comedy Just Like Heaven debuted at No. 1 with $16.4 million.
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