Top 10 for September 22-24, 2006 Summary: Final numbers are in.
Faced with slumping ticket sales early into Fall season the marketplace was in search of a savior to pull audiences back into theaters. Though their prayers weren't entirely answered (still down 9% from the comparable weekend a year ago), the lewd and crude stunts of MTV's infamous Jackass crew helped bring the box office slightly out of its doldrums as the anticipated R-rated sequel Jackass: Number Two brought young males by the bucketload off their couches and into cineplexes with an impressive $29 million, obliterating the competition in the process. Jet Li's Fearless finished a distant second with a strong $10.5 million in just 1,808 theaters, followed by last week's champ Gridiron Gang with an estimated $9.7 million. Two other debuts, MGM's Flyboys and Sony's All the Kings Men finished a disappointing fourth and seventh respectively.
Paramount scored huge with its low budget low brow sequel Jackass: Number Two, as the $11.5 million budgeted Johnny Knoxville starrer posted the biggest opening in nearly two months with $29 million. Launching in a wide 3,059 theaters, the R-rated pic averaged a phenomenal $9,481 and surpassed its 2002 predecessor Jackass: The Movie, which bowed to $22.8 million in 2,509 theaters on its way to $64.2 million domestically. With an audience skewered heavily toward the Under 25 male demographic, look for heavy drops in the coming weeks and a $60-70 million total domestic take.
Jet Li's Fearless Wushu'd its way to a second place finish as the Rogue Pictures release debuted with $10.59 million, averaging a second best $5,857 in 1,806 theaters. Loosely based on the life of Huo Yuanjia, one of China's most legendary martial arts masters, the film gained headlines when Jet Li stated in an interview that this film was his last martial arts epic. Rogue Films certainly marketed this fact to help bring out Li's American fans, but the reality is that Fearless appears likely to become, if estimates hold, the lowest debut of his career for films opening in over 1000 theaters. His previous lowest mark was 2005's Unleashed, also released by Rogue, which debuted with $10.9 million on its way to a weak $24 million domestically. Reviews were solid for the Mandarin-language epic (subtitled in English), but heavy direct competition could mean a short life span for what could be Li's last martial arts film ever.
Last week's champ Gridiron Gang fell two notches to third with $9.4 million. Despite heavy competition in its core young male demographic, a 34% drop indicates strong word of mouth for The Rock starrer. In ten days the $30 million budgeted release has grossed $27 million, and seems likely to surpass $50 million domestically.
MGM's Flyboys couldn't maneuver past the worst reviews of any new film this weekend, earning just $6 million from 2,033 theaters for a mediocre $2,953 average. The $60 million budgeted WWI American fighter pilot flick played stronger with older audiences despite its youth-oriented cast, and should see steep declines in the coming weeks.
Fox's computer-animated baseball comedy Everyone's Hero slipped just 21% to $4.69 million, bringing its ten day take to $11.5 million. Universal's The Black Dahlia, however, fell a top ten worst 55% in its sophomore frame, bringing its ten day total to $17.2 million. Budgeted at $50 million, look for the period thriller to finish with a disappointing $25 million domestically.
The final wide release debut of the weekend, Sony's long-delayed political drama All the King's Men, failed to turn out its base debuting with a weak $3.8 million in 1,514 theaters for a $2,509 average. It was the worst average of any debut this weekend and a substantial blow for Sony, which had high hopes for this remake of the 1949 Best Picture winner. Starring acting heavyweights Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins and James Gandolfini, the film failed to impress critics, earning a painfully "rotten" 11% recommendation rating from critics polled by Rottentomatoes.com.
In limited release, Warner Independent's release of Michel Gondry's (Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind) The Science of Sleep debuted with an estimated $347,000 from 14 theaters for a sizzling $24,786 average. Warner Independent plans to expand the film into 200 theaters by Friday.
Thanks to Jackass: Number Two, the top ten films grossed an estimated $76.8 million, down 9% from last year's comparable frame when Flightplan debuted at number one with $24.6 million, but up a substantial 38% from 2004 when The Forgotten topped with $21 million.
Report by
Join us in the box office messageboard to talk about
the weekend or how next week's slate will fare.
