Top 10 for July 13-15, 2007 Summary: Sunday estimates are in.
Warner Bros.' Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix brought Optimus Prime and Co. to their knees this weekend, pulling in an estimated $77.4 million over the weekend and a staggering $140 million since its record breaking opening day on Wednesday ($44 million), knocking off last week's champ Tranformers for the top spot. The Paramount-DreamWorks robot actioner finished second with an estimated $36 million, bringing its two week take to a massive $222.9 million.
The last mega-budget release of the summer opened with a bang, as the $150 million budgeted Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix took in a record Wednesday take of $44 million (the biggest Wednesday and fifth biggest opening day ever), adding another $77.4 million over the weekend to push its 5-day opening to an incredible $140 million. It was the second biggest Wednesday-Sunday opening in history, behind only 2004's Spider-Man 2 with $152.4 million, and of course the biggest 5-day opening in franchise history surpassing Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire with $119.7 million. The fifth film in the lucrative Harry Potter franchise showed just how much of a cash cow the films have been to Warner Bros., whose first four films have grossed a mind-boggling $3.5 billion worldwide. Enjoying mostly positive reviews from critics, the film got an extra boost from the immense hype surrounding J.K. Rowling's soon-to-be released seventh and final book in the Harry Potter saga, Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows. Released in 4,285 theaters (the third widest release ever) and over 9,000 screens, Phoenix averaged a powerful $18,065 per theater, and should enjoy fantastic mid-week totals while schools continue to be out for summer break.
Falling to second after its phenomenal opening week was Paramount-DreamWorks' blockbuster actioner Transformers, which fell 49% to an estimated $36 million this weekend. In 14 days the Michael Bay-directed effects pic has amassed a staggering $223 million, already becoming the director's highest grossing film ever. Budgeted at $150 million (a relative bargain compared with $300 million budgeted Spider-Man 3 and Pirates of the Caribbean 3), the film is on pace to surpass $300 million domestically and at least $700 million worldwide.
Falling just 38% in its third week of release (despite the opening of Harry Potter) was Disney-Pixar's computer-animated hit comedy Ratatouille, which took in an estimated $18 million in third place. In three weeks the highest rated film on Rottentomatoes.com in 2007 has grossed $143 million, $13 million behind last summer's Cars over the same time frame. If Ratatouille continues to hold well throughout the summer, look for the charming family film to come close to the $244 million domestic total of Cars.
In fourth was Bruce Willis's Live Free or Die Hard, falling 39% to an estimated $10.9 million. In three weeks the $110 million budgeted actioner has grossed $102.9 million. At its current pace, look for a domestic take of $130 million. Rounding out the top five was Robin Williams' comedy License to Wed with an estimated $7.4 million, falling just 29% in its sophomore frame. In 13 days the Warner release has grossed $30.5 million.
In limited release, Don Cheadle's Talk To Me took in an estimated $391,000 from just 33 theaters, averaging a strong $11,848. MGM's war drama Rescue Dawn expanded from 6 to 38 theaters, grossing an estimated $357,000 for a strong $9,395 average. As for the box office, the top ten films grossed an estimated $167.9 million, up an impressive 14% from last year's comparable frame when Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest held onto the top spot with $62.3 million.
Report by
Join us in the box office messageboard to talk about
the weekend or how next week's slate will fare.
