Top 10 for September 29-October 1, 2006 Summary: Sunday estimates are in.
The Fall box office apparently has Ashton Kutcher to thank for bringing the marketplace out of its extended slump, as the Punk'd star's two debuts this weekend knocked off Jackass: Number Two to lead all films, helping the weekend finish 13% ahead of last year's comparable frame.
Opening with an estimated $23 million (including $1.4 million on 66 IMAX screens) was Sony's computer-animated comedy Open Season, which became the tenth computer-animated film released this year and the second to feature talking forest animals (after DreamWorks' summer release Over the Hedge). Budgeted at $85 million, Open Season is the first film produced out of the Sony Pictures Animation Studio (Sony's Monster House was created under Sony Imageworks). Released in an ultrawide 3,833 theaters, the film averaged a solid $6,000 per theater despite receiving mixed to poor reviews from critics. The debut fell short of the similarly themed DreamWorks film Over the Hedge, which opened to $38.4 million on its way to $155 million domestically. It did beat out Sony's Monster House, which debuted two months ago with $22 million on its way to $72.3 million domestically.
The big opening added to Sony's already record ten No. 1 debuts, and with strong exit polling it looks as if Open Season has an outside shot at breaking even domestically. Still, with the noticeable decline in strong debuts for computer-animated features, one wonders if studios can sustain another oversaturated 10+ film release year, particularly with the majority of the films failing to break even domestically.
Debuting in the No. 2 spot was the Ashton Kutcher-Kevin Costner Coast Guard actioner The Guardian, which took in an estimated $17.7 million in 3,241 theaters for a solid $5,451 average. Released by Buena Vista, the film shrugged off mostly poor reviews and marked Costner's biggest opening since 1995's Waterworld took in $21.2 million. For Kutcher the debut was right in line with his $17-25 million opening buffer, just ahead of 2004's thriller The Butterfly Effect with $17 million.
Thanks to some heavy competition in its core Under 25 male demographic, last weeks' champ Jackass: Number Two slipped 52% to third with an estimated $14 million. In ten days the $12 million budgeted Paramount stunt comedy has grossed an impressive $51.5 million, and could reach $75 million domestically by the end of its run. 2002's Jackass grossed $64.3 million domestically.
MGM's comedy School for Scoundrels opened to an estimated $9.1 million in fourth, averaging a disappointing $3,032 in a wide 3,004 theaters. Following the theme for the weekend, the Billy Bob Thorton-Jon Heder starrer received mostly negative reviews from critics.
Rounding out the top five was Jet Li's Fearless, which took a heavy 56% drop in sales from its debut a week ago to an estimated $4.7 million, pushing its ten day take to $17.8 million. Look for the film to bow out with just $25 million domestically.
In limited release, Forest Whitaker's acclaimed new film The Last King of Scotland debuted strongly with an estimated $143,000 in just four theaters in NYC and LA. The films opens nationally on October 20th.
Michel Gondry's The Science of Sleep expanded from 14 to 221 theaters earning an estimated $1.2 million, averaging $5,475 per theater. The Warner Independent Pictures release has now grossed $1.7 million.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $82.2 million, up 15% from last year's comparable frame when Jodie Foster's Flightplan held onto the top spot with $14.8 million.
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