Friday 11 February 2011

U.S Box Office Report - 2nd - 4th November 2007

1. American Gangster -  $46.3M - $46.3M
2. Bee Movie - $39.1M - $39.1M
3. Saw IV - $11M - $51M
4. Dan In Real Life - $8.2M - $22.9M
5. 30 Days of Night - $4M - $34.1M
6. The Game Plan - $3.8M - $81.9M
7. Martian Child -  $3.6M - $3.6M
8. Michael Clayton - $2.9M - $33.1M
9. Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married? - $2.7M - $51.9M
10. Gone Baby Gone - $2.4M - $14.9M

The re teaming of Denzel Washington and Russell Crowe performs much better than Virtuosity did back in 1995. American Gangster, Ridley Scott's third film with Crowe opens in the top spot with ease, seeing off all comers, old and new. This marks Scott's biggest weekend haul since Hannibal back in 2001, while being both Washington's & Crowe's biggest weekend openings of their career. The R rating and the 2 hours 40 minutes run time could easily have worked against it and while not receiving stellar reviews across the board, American Gangster was given more than a few good words - combined with some decent trailers and some early oscar talk, and you see how successful the movie has become. It'll face competition next weekend from Lions for Lambs in the dramatic arena but for now, this is a return to form for Crowe & Scott who stumbled badly with last November's A Good Year.

A few short weeks ago it was a sure thing that a CGI comedy written and voiced by Jerry Seinfeld would take the top spot. Faced with only one family movie (The Game Plan) for well over a month it would have seemed the perfect tonic for box office success. Bee Movie was hyped even more than American Gangster and should have appealed to an even wider audience. On a normal weekend, its total of $39M would have been enough to secure the top spot but didn't factor on American Gangster doing so well. Bee Movie will face off against Fred Claus next weekend but should retain a good portion its box office thanks to the family market, who don't need to see a movie on the opening weekend. Be interesting to see how this one tracks over the next few weekends - the film cost $150M to make and it's got its work cut out to reach that.

Saw IV takes a huge kicking in its second weekend, the highest percentage drop of the entire series. Like was mentioned last weekend, the Saw franchise appears now to have found its ceiling, with takings evening out to $30M+. There's every chance that Saw IV won't even figure in the charts by the Thanksgiving holiday but as we've seen time and time again, these movies are in it for the opening weekend and DVD release - longevity was never going to be an issue. Expect Saw IV to finish with around $75M.

Dan in Real Life drops a few notches but only loses a respectable 32% of its business from last weekend. Good word of mouth from the 25-45 demographic helped this one have a much better second weekend than was expected of it. It won't ease the pain of Evan Almighty but does go some way to show that that movies failure wasn't all down to Steve Carrell.

Having been hit with Saw IV last weekend and American Gangster this one, 30 Days of Night was lucky to manage fifth place. It'll face competition next weekend from P2 and won't be troubling the box office in a fortnight's time. A bit of a disappointment given the strong trailers and amazing early word of mouth. Meanwhile the Game Plan takes a bit of a knock from Bee Movie this weekend as it edges closer to $85M. Still, the studio can't grumble with that total - The Game Plan had already been written off by many before its release - yet its gone on to be a stalwart in the top five for more than the past month.

The long delayed John Cusack drama, The Martian Child, struggles to make much a dent and probably won't last more than a couple of weekends. Featuring Cusack as a widower who adopts a child with slightly odd behaviour, the gentle drama comedy failed thanks to little hype and even less interest. One wonders if that delay might also have had something do with it. Still Cusack has already seen success with 1408 this year and should do well with the cult crowd on the upcoming War Inc and the award scene with Grace is Gone.

Tyler Perry's Why Did I Get Married won't reach the heights of Family Reunion but has already turned a comfortable profit for the cross-format entrepreneur. Michael Clayton, which seemed to be digging its heels into the top ten a couple of short weeks ago has dropped a few places and won't be in top ten next weekend. While it did garner critical acclaim, this didn't translate into huge numbers.

Rounding out the top ten this weekend is the Ben Affleck directed drama Gone Baby Gone. Deciding to not expand the movie on any further screens, even after such strong word of mouth, may have cost Miramax a few milliond dollars in box office. Like Clayton, Gone Baby Gone is seeing its last weekend on the charts and will stand to serve as a solid debut from Affleck.

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