Weekend Box Office (October 10 - 12, 2008)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND In one of the bigger upsets in recent box office history, the canine adventure Beverly Hills Chihuahua remained at number one with the highly touted and highly pedigreed Body of Lies landing with a thud in third.

The rich dogs of Beverly Hills took pole position at the box office once again this weekend as Beverly Hills Chihuahua lapped up another $17.5M, according to final studio figures, a fall of 40% from last weekend's debut. The total for the PG-rated family adventure stands at $52.5M with the $100M brass ring now within sight.

Second place was a surprise with the Sony horror flick Quarantine scaring up $14.2M for a per-theater average of a strong $5,775, tops in the top 10. With Halloween just around the corner, moviegoers were looking for a couple of good scares and the well-marketed Quarantine was just the ticket.

Landing in third place with a very loud thud was the (former) Academy Award hopeful Body of Lies. With past Academy winners and nominees taking part in all aspects of the film including writing (William Monahan), directing (Ridley Scott) and acting (Leonardo DiCaprio and Russell Crowe), Lies was expected to easily debut at number one but instead the war-on-terror story set in the Middle East did not resonate with audiences. Lies grossed $12.9M this weekend for an average of $4,754 while playing on 250 more screens than Quarantine.

The highest grossing film of the season, Eagle Eye, fell to fourth place this weekend with $10.9M, a drop of 38% from last weekend, bringing its cume to $70.4M. Fifth place belonged to another holdover, the teen dramedy Nick and Norah's Infinite Playlist which took in $6.4M this weekend bringing its total to $20.7M. Look for a final gross in the $40M range.

Debuting quietly in sixth place was the Universal football drama The Express with $4.6M. The story of Heisman-winning running back Ernie Davis failed to connect with moviegoers but should see better results on DVD.

Seventh place belonged to lovers as Nights in Rodanthe fell 38% to $4.5M bringing its total to $32.3M.

The battle for eighth and ninth was a close one. In eighth was the Warner Brothers western Appaloosa which roped in $3.32M this weekend bringing its total to $10.9M. Rising into the top 10 at number nine was the period drama The Duchess with $3.3M bringing its cume to $5.6M for Paramount Vantage.

Dipping only 21% to $3.1M was Fireproof which has banked a solid $16.9M to date.

Crash landing at number eleven was the debuting fantasy film City of Ember from Fox. The story of an underground city on the verge of collapse was yet another film that failed to connect with paying audiences, grossing $3.1M for a poor per-theater average of $1,548, the lowest in the top 10.

The top ten films grossed $80.8M which was up 1% from last year when Why Did I Get Married? opened in the top spot with $21.4M; but down 16% from 2006 when The Grudge 2 debuted at number one with $20.8M.


Compared to projections, Quarantine came in higher than Gitesh's $10M prediction while Body of Lies, The Express and City of Ember all came in below Gitesh's respective projections of $20M, $15M and $6M.

For NEW reviews of Body of Lies and The Express plus NEW DVD reviews of Sleeping Beauty and Schoohouse Rock: The Election Collection visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Max Payne, Sex Drive, W., and The Secret Life of Bees all open wide.

Marketplace - Shop for DVDs, electronics, books, and posters at discounted prices:

# Title Oct 10 - 12 Oct 3 - 5 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Beverly Hills Chihuahua $ 17,502,077 29,300,465 -40.3 3,218 2 $ 5,439 $ 52,532,310 Buena Vista
2 Quarantine 14,211,321 2,461 1 5,775 14,211,321 Sony
3 Body of Lies 12,884,416 2,710 1 4,754 12,884,416 Warner Bros.
4 Eagle Eye 10,913,762 17,709,817 -38.4 3,614 3 3,020 70,409,979 Paramount
5 Nick & Norah's Infinite Playlist 6,420,474 11,311,751 -43.2 2,421 2 2,652 20,730,708 Sony
6 The Express 4,562,675 2,808 1 1,625 4,562,675 Universal
7 Nights in Rodanthe 4,541,201 7,368,259 -38.4 2,575 3 1,764 32,297,101 Warner Bros.
8 Appaloosa 3,321,389 3,987,509 -16.7 1,290 4 2,575 10,867,693 Warner Bros.
9 The Duchess 3,304,841 890,990 270.9 1,207 4 2,738 5,603,061 Paramount Vantage
10 Fireproof 3,140,997 3,987,509 -21.2 875 3 3,590 16,875,765 Samuel Goldwyn
11 City of Ember 3,129,473 2,022 1 1,548 3,129,473 Fox
12 Lakeview Terrace 2,654,644 4,561,227 -41.8 2,218 4 1,197 36,201,729 Sony
13 Religulous 2,230,898 3,409,643 -34.6 568 2 3,928 6,732,631 Lionsgate
14 Burn After Reading 2,095,647 4,120,129 -49.1 1,406 5 1,491 55,177,399 Focus
15 An American Carol 1,395,000 3,656,000 -61.8 1,621 2 861 5,971,000 Vivendi
16 Flash of Genius 867,780 2,251,075 -61.5 1,098 2 790 3,744,790 Universal
17 The Family That Preys 840,767 1,589,086 -47.1 539 5 1,560 36,405,889 Lionsgate
18 Igor 560,410 1,739,078 -67.8 1,195 4 469 18,073,854 MGM
19 The Dark Knight 528,328 828,213 -36.2 375 13 1,409 526,690,914 Warner Bros.
20 Ghost Town 502,402 1,469,919 -65.8 575 4 874 12,500,221 Paramount
Top 5 $ 61,932,050 $ 70,740,602 -12.5
Top 10 80,803,153 90,475,110 -10.7
Top 20 95,608,502 106,708,237 -10.4
Top 20 vs. 2007 95,608,502 91,309,026 4.7

Last Updated: October 13, 2008 at 9:00PM ET