Top 10 for July 6-8, 2007 Summary: Final numbers are in.
Apologies to all for missing last weekend's report, I was stuck in the hospital for a few days, but all is well now!
Robot destruction reigned supreme throughout the entire July 4th week and weekend, as Paramount's hotly anticipated Transformers met even the loftiest of expectations earning $70.5 million over the weekend and a staggering $155.4 million since its opening on Monday evening, July 2nd. Co-produced with DreamWorks, the $150 million budgeted vfx extravaganza made marketing execs proud, as their unusual decision to open the film on a Monday leading into a mid-week July 4th and onto the weekend proved to be a winning formula. The Michael Bay directed pic broke the Tuesday record with $27.9 million, as well as a July 4th (Wednesday) record with $29.1 million. Altogether its $152.5 million six-day opening represents the second largest opening of that time frame for a non-sequel picture, behind only the original Spider-Man.
Despite opening early in the week, Transformers was able to post the second largest Independence Day weekend opening ever with $70.5 million, behind only Spider-Man 2's $88.2 million take. The staggering opening was especially sweet for director Michael Bay, whose big-budget actioner The Island became one of the biggest duds of the summer two years ago. Enjoying surprisingly warm reviews from critics and solid word of mouth from audiences, look for Transformers to make a strong run towards $300 million domestically. Internationally, Transformers took in $93.6 million from 29 markets, putting its global take at an incredible $246.1 million.
While the big story last weekend was the slightly disappointing opening of Disney-Pixar's latest creation Ratatouille, the news as this week progressed was just how strong its midweek holiday performance had been. From Monday to Thursday the highly-acclaimed computer-animated comedy had amassed $33.5 million, and after a $29 million sophomore weekend (down just 38%) Ratatouille pushed its ten-day cume to $109.5 million. So after opening $13 million lower than last summer's Cars, Ratatouille has now climbed back to just $7.6 million behind Car's $117.1 million ten-day haul. With most kids still out of school for summer break and seemingly very strong word of mouth carrying the film forward, look for Ratatouille to continue a very strong domestic run.
Despite contending directly with the juggernaut Transformers opening, Live Free or Die Hard fell a better than expected 48% in its sophomore frame to an estimated $17.4 million in third place. In 12 days the $110 million budgeted action sequel has grossed $84.2 million, and should find its way to a domestic total of $135 million.
Warner's poorly-reviewed comedy License to Wed was meant to be the counter-programming alternative to the testosterone-laden Transformers, but the Robin Williams starrer earned just $10.4 million over the weekend and $17.8 million over its first six-days to debut in fourth place.
Rounding out the top five was Universal's comedy Evan Almighty, which slipped 46% to an estimated $8.1 million. In three weeks, the $175 million budgeted followup has grossed just $78.1 million, and will have to look overseas to help recoup its massive production costs.
The smallest drop in the top ten went to Michael Moore's controversial new documentary Sicko, which fell 19% to an estimated $3.6 million. In three weeks of limited release, the Lions Gate Films release has grossed a strong $11.5 million.
Out of the top ten was Buena Vista's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, which took in an estimated $3 million to help push its seven week cume to $301.7 million. Budgeted at a staggering $300 million, the film has now amassed $910 million worldwide.
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