WEEKEND BOX OFFICE REPORT Dec. 16th - 18th
King Kong did not meet the high expectations that were expected, however, director Peter Jackson's $207 million remake of the of the seminal 1933 creature feature grabbed $50.1 million over the weekend from around 7,500 screens at 3,568 theaters. It ranks as the fourth highest-grossing first weekend on record for a December release, behind the last two Lord of the Rings movies and The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.
Hollywood analysts generally expected King Kong to have a debut weekend at least in the $60 million range. Though it came in lower than expected, King Kong led Hollywood to a solid weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $121.2 million, up 22 percent from the same weekend last year. That was good news heading into the holidays, when studios are counting on a strong finish to help snap a prolonged slump in which movie attendance has fallen 7 percent compared with last year. Since bowing Wednesday, the three-hour thrill ride has amassed $66.2 million in five days, below distributor Universal Pictures' publicly-stated benchmark, the $75 million of Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and much lower than media and industry hype that had hoped for over $100 million. "I think the industry and the media did not understand how a three hour movie performs," said Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal. "Take Lord of the Rings out because that comes with the Tolkien nuts, and there aren't any examples. It's not surprising that we didn't understand it. As crazy as it is, the only one you can point to is Titanic. King Kong is writing its own pattern."
In limited release, Brokeback Mountain saw another stampede of moviegoers in its second weekend, while there was no springtime for The Producers in its debut. Focus Features' cowboy love story lassoed $2.5 million from 69 locations, averaging a potent $36,354 per site, raising the total to $3.5 million in 10 days. Last weekend, Brokeback Mountain trumpeted a $109,485 average at five bustling theaters in Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. It's natural for a picture's average to drop significantly as it adds smaller markets. "The danger with distributing a movie like this is if you get ahead of it, you lose it," said Jack Foley, Focus' president of distribution. "We'll do what we have to do to meet the business capabilities and the demand. I'd love to see this movie in 2,000 theaters. I have no limits to how wide I want it to go." Foley said that the expansion will be more aggressive than previously planned, with around 275 theaters set for Jan. 6 and about 400 for Jan. 13. The original intent was to be in 300 venues by the end of January.
Also in its second weekend, Memoirs of a Geisha rolled out to 52 theaters and attracted $1.3 million, or a decent $25,044 per site. Director Rob Marshal's $85 million adaptation of the bestseller of the same name expands to around 1,400 theaters on Friday. Meanwhile, The Producers, the $45 million movie version of Mel Brooks' Broadway musical, itself adapted from Brooks' 1968 movie, was unimpressive. At six venues, the musical comedy drew $154,590, averaging a modest $25,765 per site. Distributor Universal Pictures will release the picture at over 1,000 locations on Christmas day.
1. King Kong ($50,130,145)
2. The Chronicles of Narnia ($31,837,683)
3. The Family Stone ($12,521,027)
4. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire ($5,952,452)
5. Syriana ($5,605,167)
6. Walk The Line ($3,688,031)
7. Yours, Mine and Ours ($3,511,110)
8. Brokeback Mountain ($2,508,494)
9. Just Friends ($2,080,852)
10. Aeon Flux ($1,751,220)
Hollywood analysts generally expected King Kong to have a debut weekend at least in the $60 million range. Though it came in lower than expected, King Kong led Hollywood to a solid weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $121.2 million, up 22 percent from the same weekend last year. That was good news heading into the holidays, when studios are counting on a strong finish to help snap a prolonged slump in which movie attendance has fallen 7 percent compared with last year. Since bowing Wednesday, the three-hour thrill ride has amassed $66.2 million in five days, below distributor Universal Pictures' publicly-stated benchmark, the $75 million of Jackson's The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring, and much lower than media and industry hype that had hoped for over $100 million. "I think the industry and the media did not understand how a three hour movie performs," said Marc Shmuger, vice chairman of Universal. "Take Lord of the Rings out because that comes with the Tolkien nuts, and there aren't any examples. It's not surprising that we didn't understand it. As crazy as it is, the only one you can point to is Titanic. King Kong is writing its own pattern."
In limited release, Brokeback Mountain saw another stampede of moviegoers in its second weekend, while there was no springtime for The Producers in its debut. Focus Features' cowboy love story lassoed $2.5 million from 69 locations, averaging a potent $36,354 per site, raising the total to $3.5 million in 10 days. Last weekend, Brokeback Mountain trumpeted a $109,485 average at five bustling theaters in Los Angeles, New York City and San Francisco. It's natural for a picture's average to drop significantly as it adds smaller markets. "The danger with distributing a movie like this is if you get ahead of it, you lose it," said Jack Foley, Focus' president of distribution. "We'll do what we have to do to meet the business capabilities and the demand. I'd love to see this movie in 2,000 theaters. I have no limits to how wide I want it to go." Foley said that the expansion will be more aggressive than previously planned, with around 275 theaters set for Jan. 6 and about 400 for Jan. 13. The original intent was to be in 300 venues by the end of January.
Also in its second weekend, Memoirs of a Geisha rolled out to 52 theaters and attracted $1.3 million, or a decent $25,044 per site. Director Rob Marshal's $85 million adaptation of the bestseller of the same name expands to around 1,400 theaters on Friday. Meanwhile, The Producers, the $45 million movie version of Mel Brooks' Broadway musical, itself adapted from Brooks' 1968 movie, was unimpressive. At six venues, the musical comedy drew $154,590, averaging a modest $25,765 per site. Distributor Universal Pictures will release the picture at over 1,000 locations on Christmas day.
1. King Kong ($50,130,145)
2. The Chronicles of Narnia ($31,837,683)
3. The Family Stone ($12,521,027)
4. Harry Potter and The Goblet of Fire ($5,952,452)
5. Syriana ($5,605,167)
6. Walk The Line ($3,688,031)
7. Yours, Mine and Ours ($3,511,110)
8. Brokeback Mountain ($2,508,494)
9. Just Friends ($2,080,852)
10. Aeon Flux ($1,751,220)
posted by The Hollywood Bureau at Monday, December 19, 2005
<< Home