Reunion Repeats despite Tumultuous Tumble
March 6, 2006
It was another bad week as practically ever film in the top five missed expectations, some by wide margins. The overall box office was down to $103 million for the weekend, which is 14.2% lower than last weekend and 16.3% lower than the same weekend last year. However, a lot of that has to do with the Oscars. Year-to-date, 2006 has brought in $1.39 billion in box office revenue, which is just behind last's years pace of $1.40 billion.
Madea's Family Reunion may have won the box office race, but with just $12.6 million over the weekend it was lower than expected by a more than $1 million and only finish first because the competition turned out to be much, much weaker than expected. That said, nobody at the studio is going to complain as that was still higher than the film's $10 million production budget and puts the running tally at $47.7 million, which is just behind Diary of a Mad Black Woman's box office of $50.4 million. I'm sure Tyler Perry is already hard at work adapting another one of his plays for the big screen.
16 Blocks performed a lot like the last movie Bruce Willis starred in rather than the ensemble piece, Sin City. Over the weekend it pulled in just $11.9 million in 2,706 theaters, which is well below expectations. With mixed reviews, the film won't have the legs needed to recover next weekend, but it should do well enough that it should show a profit, eventually.
8 Below was the only film in the top five to beat expectations and it did it by the narrowest of margins at $10.2 million. Its total box office now sits at $58.6 million making it one of the biggest hits of the year.
Ultraviolet, on the other hand, managed just $9.1 million over the weekend and if its legs are as short as its reviews would indicate, it will have a tough time just making it to $25 million by the end of its run. On the bright side, it did only cost $30 million to make and should still show a profit it is finds an audience either internationally, or during the home market.
Surprisingly, Aquamarine finished in the top five despite just missing Friday's prediction with $7.5 million. Of the four films that opened wide this weekend, this one had the lowest per theatre average, but with reviews that were just shy of the overall positive level and a low production budget, it should still show a profit after its initial push into the home market.
Just missing the top five was The Pink Panther with $6.9 million. That gives it $69.7 million during its run making it the highest grossing film of the year so far. Scary, but true.
Lastly we have Dave Chappelle's Block Party, which was the biggest disappointment of the weekend finishing in seventh place with just $6.2 million, less than half what most people predicted. It looks like the studio couldn't translate amazing reviews and powerful buzz into an increased box office performance. On the plus side, it did only cost $3 million to make, so earning a profit is academic at this point.
Filed under: The Pink Panther, Eight Below, Madea's Family Reunion, Ultraviolet, Dave Chappelle's Block Party, 16 Blocks, Aquamarine