Top 10 for June 1-3, 2007 Summary: Final numbers are in.
Despite tumbling a precipitous 62% in its sophomore frame, Disney's $300 million juggernaut Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End still took in $44.2 million, pushing its two week total to a hefty $216.5 million. The big drop was essentially identical to that of Spider-Man 3 and 8% steeper than last year's Dead Man's Chest, an ominous sign that At World's End isn't getting the strong word of mouth that was seen in its two predecessors. If the $300 million budgeted release continues on this same path it will most likely will fall well short of the $432.3 million domestic gross of last July's Dead Man's Chest, which also raked in over $1 billion worldwide.
Where At World's End is making a killing is in the international market (also very similar to Spider-Man 3), where it fell just 46% to $105.4 million, putting its overseas total at a staggering $408.8 million. That means in just two weeks the Johnny Depp blockbuster has grossed $625.3 million, putting it on pace to break $900 million worldwide.
The lack of comedies in the marketplace as well as solid reviews from critics helped push the comedy debut Knocked Up to a strong second with $30.7 million this weekend. Averaging a top ten best $10,690 in 2,871 theaters, the R-rated Judd Apatow directed film debuted nearly $8 million stronger than Apatow's sleeper hit The 40-Year-Old Virgin, which took in $21.4 million in its opening weekend in August 2005. Starring Katherine Heigl and Seth Rogen (also from 40-Year-Old Virgin), the film saw a very encouraging 15.6% spike in ticket sales from Friday to Saturday, a strong indicator that word of mouth should give the film a nice long summer run. Virgin went on to gross $109.3 million domestically, a number very much in the reach of Universal's $30 million budgeted comedy.
Falling 47% in its third weekend of release was DreamWorks Animation's Shrek the Third, which took in $28 million in third place (that's a lot of threes). That's a much heavier drop than the studio's Over the Hedge, which fell just 24% on the weekend after Memorial Day. Despite the drop the $160 million budgeted sequel has now grossed a commanding $254.6 million, putting it just behind Disney-Pixar's 2001 hit Monsters, Inc. with $255.9 million. At its current pace the Mike Meyers-Eddie Murphy starrer should reach at least $320 million domestically.
MGM's serial killer thriller Mr. Brooks debuted in fourth with an estimated $10 million, averaging a mediocre $4,085 in 2,453 theaters. Starring Kevin Costner and Demi Moore, the pic seemed to go after an older crowd and may get trampled by the upcoming June releases.
Sony's blockbuster superhero pic Spider-Man 3 slipped 48% to an estimated $7.5 million in third, pushing its domestic cume to a very impressive $318.3 million. Internationally its total now stands at a remarkable $526 million, bringing its worldwide take to $844 million. That makes Spider-Man 3 already the highest grossing film in the franchise, surpassing the $822 million worldwide total of Spider-Man.
Fox Searchlight's indie sensation Waitress expanded to 605 theaters this weekend but earned just $2 million, averaging a not-so-impressive $3,347. Hoping word of mouth continues to build for the critically acclaimed Keri Russell starrer, the studio plans to add 100 more theaters to its release slate. To date, the low budget dramedy has brought in $9.5 million.
The empowering soccer drama Gracie failed to generate enough buzz this weekend, debuting with just $1.4 million in 1,164 theaters, averaging a pathetic $1,171 per theater.
Despite the presence of three blockbuster May releases in the marketplace, the top ten films grossed an estimated $123.6 million, down 4% from last year's comparable frame when The Break-Up debuted with $39.2 million. It was also down 2% from 2005 when DreamWorks' Madagascar took in $28.1 million in the top spot.
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