Top 10 for November 17-19, 2006 Summary: Final Numbers are in.
Backed by a huge marketing blitz and America's seemingly insatiable infatuation with penguins, Warner Bros.'s computer-animated penguin dance spectacular Happy Feet out-tapped a leaner, meaner, and grittier James Bond in Casino Royale for the top spot this weekend with an estimated $42.3 million compared with Bond's $40.6 million. Despite both films opening with over $40 million (only the second time in history), the top ten films posted the worst pre-Turkey Day weekend in eight years, falling well short of last year's comparable frame when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire scorched the competition with a record $102.7 million.
Leading all films this weekend with an estimated $42.3 million was the $100 million budgeted Happy Feet, which averaged a strong $11,125 in an ultrawide 3,804 theaters. The film was one of the most heavily marketed computer-animated releases this year, and was able to buck the trend of consistently declining opening weekends for animate features. Happy Feet surpassed both of DreamWorks' offerings this year in Over the Hedge ($38.4m) and Flushed Away ($20m), but fell well short of Pixar's Cars ($60.1m) and Fox's Ice Age: The Meltdown ($68.1m), the two biggest animated hits of 2006.
Happy Feet couldn't have come at a better time for beleaguered Warner Bros., as the studio has gone through one of the more challenging years in recent memory. Suffering through box office duds like Poseidon and the computer-animated Ant Bully, as well as the lower than expected totals from Superman Returns, the studio was in need of a hit. Featuring the voice talents of Robin Williams and Elijah Wood, the George Miller-directed picture saw a huge 42% spike in ticket sales from Friday to Saturday, indicating extremely strong word of mouth. That bodes very well for the film long term, with the lucrative Thanksgiving holiday weekend quickly approaching. The film clearly affected other films in the family market, with Flushed Away and The Santa Clause 3 falling 59% and 51% respectively.
The film that garnered the most media attention this weekend was Sony-MGM's jumpstart to their Bond franchise Casino Royale, which broke a four-year hiatus in opening with an estimatd $40.6 million. The consensus pick to win the weekend, Royale received some of the best reviews of the season, earning a commanding 95% "fresh" rating from Rottentomatoes.com. Averaging a top ten best $11,823 from 3,434 theaters, the film's main attraction was new Bond Daniel Craig, who took over the role after Pierce Brosnan essentially revived the franchise in his four-picture stint.
Budgeted at an eye-popping $150 million, the opening was the second biggest in the Bond franchise, surpassing the $35.5 million opening of 1999's The World Is Not Enough, but falling short of the $47 million bow of 2002's Die Another Day. The decision to go with a relatively unknown entity in Craig and tell more of an origin story -- a formula that has worked well for the comic book genre -- was a bold move for Sony-MGM, and should pay off handsomely for the studio. The movie has the potential to play out similar to last summer's Batman Begins, which starred the relatively obscure Christian Bale, and was a return to the darker origins of the franchise. The film opened to just $48.7 million, but finished its domestic run with $205.3 million. With word of mouth seemingly very strong, look for the film to possibly break even domestically while doing substantially more business internationally. Overseas, Casino topped the charts in 27 markets with an estimated $42.2 million, with a sizzling $25.6 million debut in the U.K.
Falling 49% an estimated $14.4 million in its third week of release was Fox's raucous mockumentary Borat, which pushed its 17 day take to an incredible $90.5 million. Budgeted at a mere $18 million, the Sacha Baron Cohen comedy should finish with $120-130 million domestically.
Thanks to Happy Feet cleaning up on Saturday, the weekend's remaining family films saw heavy declines, with Disney's The Santa Clause 3 stumbling 52% to an estimated $8.2 million, pushing its three week total to $51.6 million. Paramount/DreamWorks Animations' animated comedy Flushed Away fell a precipitous 59% to $6.8 million, pushing its three week total to $48.8 million.
In tenth place was the horror film fest After Dark's Horror Fest - 8 Films to Die For, which took in $2.5 million in 488 theaters for Freestyle Releasing, averaging a strong $5,086.
The comedy Let's Go To Prison debuted outside of the top ten, opening with just $2.1 million in 1,495 theaters for a pathetic $1,410 average.
Despite two $40+ million debuts, the top ten films grossed an estimated $129.7 million, down a substantial 23% from last year's comparable frame when Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire slammed into theaters with $102.3 million. It was the lowest ouput for a pre-Thanksgiving weekend in eight years.
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