Weekend Box Office (August 19 - 21, 2005)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND The sex-starved comedy The 40-Year-Old Virgin landed in the top spot in its opening weekend scoring $21.4M in its first try with moviegoers, according to final studio figures. Universal launched the R-rated film in 2,845 theaters and averaged a strong $7,530 per site. Starring Steve Carell, Virgin beat out three other new releases plus all holdovers to lead a marketplace that was witnessing the usual late summer slowdown. Reviews were somewhat favorable for the raunchy comedy.

Wes Craven scored a solid bow for his new suspense thriller Red Eye which opened in second with $16.2M from 3,079 theaters. Averaging $5,251 per venue, the PG-13 film about an assassination plot on a plane played to a young female audience. Studio research from DreamWorks showed that 60% of the audience was under 25 while 58% was female.

Paramount's revenge drama Four Brothers dropped 41% in its second weekend falling from first to third with $12.5M. Budgeted at over $40M, the Mark Wahlberg pic has grossed $43.1M in ten days and should find its way to $75-80M. Off 32% in its sixth weekend was New Line's Wedding Crashers with $8M pushing the remarkable cume to $177.6M.

The Universal thriller The Skeleton Key fell 52% in its second weekend to $7.7M. The $43M Kate Hudson vehicle has scared up $30.4M in ten days and looks headed for $45-50M. March of the Penguins continued its endless journey with $6.5M sliding a mere 5%. The hit doc has collected $48.4M to date with much more still to come. The Dukes of Hazzard fell 54% to $6M in its third weekend giving Warner Bros. $69.1M in 17 days.

Disney's CG animated film Valiant debuted in eighth place with a weak take of only $5.9M. Playing in 2,014 theaters, the G-rated film about a courageous pigeon averaged only $2,937 per theater.

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory grossed $4.4M, off 40%, boosting the tally to $192.6M. Disney's family comedy Sky High slipped just 36% to $4M for a cume of $50.9M.

Fox's motorcycle action drama Supercross crashed and burned in its opening weekend taking in just $1.3M. Charging into 1,621 theaters, the PG-13 pic averaged a pitiful $820 and grossed $2M since its Wednesday debut.

Three films fell from the top ten over the weekend. Sony's Rob Schneider comedy Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo stumbled 60% in its second weekend to $3.8M giving the sequel only $17.4M in ten days. The $22M film should reach a disappointing $22-24M.

The Warner Bros. romantic comedy Must Love Dogs tumbled 51% to $2.2M boosting the total to $39M. The Diane Lane-John Cusack film should finish with about $45M. Miramax's The Great Raid crumbled 46% in its second mission and captured $1.8M to lift its ten-day tally to a weak $6.5M. The World War II saga looks to end its run quickly with $10M.

Among expanding indie films, Focus widened its Bill Murray comedy Broken Flowers from 118 to 389 locations and grossed $2.3M for a $6,038 average. ThinkFilm expanded its foul-mouthed doc The Aristocrats from 86 to 172 sites and took in $666,449 for a $3,920 average. Cumes stand at $6M and $2.7M, respectively.

The top ten films grossed $92.7M which was down 4% from last year when The Exorcist: The Beginning opened at number one with $18.1M; but up 16% from 2003 when Freddy vs. Jason retained the top spot with $13.2M.


Compared to projections, The 40-Year-Old Virgin and Red Eye both debuted a couple of notches ahead of my respective projections of $17M and $13M. Valiant bowed weaker than my $10M forecast while Supercross opened with less than half of my already bearish $5M projection over five days.

For a NEW review of Red Eye visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when The Brothers Grimm, The Cave, and Undiscovered all open.

Marketplace: Shop for videos, DVDs, music, books, and posters at discounted prices using search engines

# Title Aug 19 - 21 Aug 12 - 14 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 The 40-Year-Old Virgin $ 21,422,815 2,845 1 $ 7,530 $ 21,422,815 Universal
2 Red Eye 16,167,662 3,079 1 5,251 16,167,662 DreamWorks
3 Four Brothers 12,487,537 21,176,925 -41.0 2,649 2 4,714 43,118,074 Paramount
4 Wedding Crashers 8,002,613 11,834,614 -32.4 2,920 6 2,741 177,642,603 New Line
5 The Skeleton Key 7,725,495 16,057,945 -51.9 2,774 2 2,785 30,448,770 Universal
6 March of the Penguins 6,487,696 6,848,205 -5.3 2,102 9 3,086 48,444,218 Warner Ind.
7 The Dukes of Hazzard 5,978,292 13,011,202 -54.1 3,404 3 1,756 69,070,528 Warner Bros.
8 Valiant 5,914,722 2,014 1 2,937 5,914,722 Buena Vista
9 Charlie and the Chocolate Factory 4,434,453 7,412,391 -40.2 2,575 6 1,722 192,638,088 Warner Bros.
10 Sky High 4,034,895 6,309,670 -36.1 2,145 4 1,881 50,862,532 Buena Vista
11 Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo 3,807,221 9,626,287 -60.4 3,127 2 1,218 17,381,752 Sony
12 Broken Flowers 2,349,001 1,717,306 36.8 389 3 6,039 5,977,086 Focus Features
13 Must Love Dogs 2,241,228 4,575,046 -51.0 1,809 4 1,239 39,028,308 Warner Bros.
14 The Great Raid 1,820,664 3,376,009 -46.1 920 2 1,979 6,549,818 Miramax
15 Supercross 1,330,520 1,621 1 821 2,010,962 Fox
16 War of the Worlds 1,057,340 2,158,694 -51.0 713 8 1,483 230,614,825 Paramount
17 Fantastic Four 1,032,450 2,342,797 -55.9 879 7 1,175 150,668,328 Fox
18 The Aristocrats 666,449 867,171 -23.1 170 4 3,920 2,717,241 ThinkFilm
19 Batman Begins 632,369 1,050,497 -39.8 397 10 1,593 202,285,638 Warner Bros.
20 Stealth 558,334 2,151,768 -74.1 707 4 790 31,200,155 Sony
Top 5 $ 65,806,122 $ 71,706,973 -8.2
Top 10 92,656,180 100,228,294 -7.6
Top 20 108,151,756 114,514,786 -5.6
Top 20 vs. 2004 108,151,756 111,159,023 -2.7

Last Updated : August 23, 2005 at 9:30AM EDT