Early Meeting

December 22, 2004

Getting a jump of the Christmas weekend is Meet the Fockers, the sequel to 2000's Meet the Parents opens tonight in more than 3500 theatres, while the musical, Phantom of the Opera opens in just over 600.

Meet the Fockers is unlikely to match its predecessor's box office, mostly due to its poor reviews. Meet the Focker has only been able to score 39% positive reviews, compared to 81% positive earned by its predecessor. (Although it is better than I was expecting.) On the positive side, it is the only film opening wide from now till Christmas day.

The film should take top spot tonight with $6 million tonight, bring in another $4 million on Thursday before grabbing another $24 million over the weekend.

The only other film opening tonight that will have an impact on the top ten is Andrew Lloyd-Webber's the Phantom of the Opera, which opens in just over 600 theatres.

The last big musical top open also did it at this time of year, but that's pretty much where the comparisons between this film and Chicago end. This film is earning poor reviews, especially among the cream-of-the-crop critics. Unlike Chicago which earned nearly universal acclaim. The reason for the poor critical reception is simple, Andrew Lloyd-Webber is gloriously overrated as a composer.

Even so, the film should take home enough to hit the top five tonight with $2 million, but it will be squeezed out by the weekend finishing no better than 6th place with $6 million.


Submitted by:

Filed under: Meet the Fockers, The Phantom of the Opera