Box Office
What’s hot and what’s not in theatres. This category includes weekly results, plus occasional articles on foreign business and/or analysis of trends.
Box Office goes to the dogs
Since the summer of superhero hits came to a close, cinefantastiquehas ceased to dominate the Top Ten box office, with few sci-fi, fantasy, and horror titles opening in the market place. Nevertheless, this weekend sees the genre once again ascendant, thanks to Disney’s new talking dog pic, BEVELRY HILLS CHIHUAHUA. The fantasy-comedy opened in 3,215 [...]
Igor pulls the switch but empty theatres resemble a Ghost Town
If there were any doubt that Fall had arrived, this weekend’s box office results confirm it: there are no more summer blockbusters burning up the screens. Two new genre titles made their debut - IGOR and GHOST TOWN - but neither one scared up much business. IGOR opened in 2,339 theatres, where it earned $8-million [...]
“Tropic” thunders over Babylon
The big sci-fi action debut of the weekend, BABYLON A.D. saw lots of rain falling on its box office parade, as it was bested by last week’s winner TROPIC THUNDER, which remained #1 for the second week in a row. BABYLON A.D. opened in 3,390 theatres wtih $11.5-million, barely edging out THE DARK KNIGHT for second [...]
Box Office: Death Race off to slow start
DEATH RACE failed to take the checkered flag during its debut weekend, finishing in third place, behind TROPIC THUNDER and THE HOUSE BUNNY. Paul W. S. Anderson’s loose remake of the 1970s Roger Corman production raced into 2,532 U.S. theatres, where it earned an estimated $15.1-million.
Box Office: Jedi run out of juice
It’s been awhile since a STAR WARS film opened without dominating the box office, blasting the competition like the Death Star targeting a helpless planet. But that’s what happened this week: STAR WARS: THE CLONE WARS opened in third place, earning $14.61-million in 3,452 theatres - the lowest STAR WARS debut since A NEW HOPE (1977) [...]
Box Office: Batman bests Dragon Emperor
It was a close fight, but THE DARK KNIGHT held onto the #1 position for the third weekend in a row, according to weekend estimates, fending off a challenge from the newly released sequeld THE MUMMY: TOMB OF THE DRAGON EMPEROR. The MUMMY sequel opened in 3,760 theaters, earning a laudable $42.45-million and placing in [...]
Box Office: Batman flies ahead of competitors
Some pictures have legs at the box office; THE DARK KNIGHT has wings. Christopher Nolan’s hard-boiled film noir reinterpretation of the Caped Crusader flew high above the competition, earning over $75-million - an incredibly impressive number for a film in its second weekend of release. That yielded a two-week total of $314.25-million - which is [...]
Box Office: Dark Knight shines bright
THE DARK KNIGHT dominated the box office on its opening weekend, selling more tickets than the remaining Top Ten films combined. The latest adventure of the Caped Crusader opened in 4,366 theatres, where it earned an awesome $155.34-million, according to weekend estimates. (By way of comparison, the previous film, BATMAN BEGINS, opened with $48.75-million and [...]
Box Office: Hellboy rising
It was a good weekend for cinefantastique at the box office. If you are only a bit liberal with the definitions of fantasy and science fiction, nine of the Top Ten films fell into the genres. If not for KIT KITTREDGE: AN AMERICAN GIRL at #8 (which pushed INCREDIBLE HULK down to #11), genre films [...]
Box Office: Hancock flies to #1
Despite largely negative reviews, HANCOCK zoomed into the #1 position at the box office over the four-day holiday weekend. The superhero comedy, starring Will Smith, celebrated the fourth of July by opening on Wednesday, in 3,965 theatres, which gave it an added box office boost. The three-day Friday-to-Sunday estimate was $66.00-million. Including ticket sales from the [...]