Box Office
Box Office Update 9/29-10/1: It’s Open Season on the Competition
Posted by Chris Beaumont (chrisbeaumont@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 3, 2006
This past weekend Ashton Kutcher declared open season on the box office. He made his return to the big screen with two films this weekend, both of which unseated last weekend’s top seed Jackass Number Two.
Whether or not the number one movie Open Season, featuring the the voice of Kutcher, or The Guardian, the number two film featuring Kutcher the action star, deserve to rank so high is a different question entirely. The fact remains, they were strong enough to face down Johnny Knoxville and his gaggle of pranksters.
Open Season opened strong taking in over $23 million. It successfully brought the families out with its promise of broad comedy and animated animal hijinks. I helped it to its top spot with my ticket, as I decided to take it in over the weekend. I found it to be only fitfully humorous, but in the end, it was pretty forgettable. Kutcher’s number two film, The Guardian, came in at number two with a little over $18 million. It was a by the numbers action/drama that successfully plays the emotions and delivers some high energy.
The other new release to crack the top ten was School for Scoundrels. A film that wants to be a dark comedy, but wasn’t terribly dark, and not overly funny. It came it at number four with $8.6 million. I was mildly entertained by the antics of Billy Bob Thornton and Jon Heder.
Among the returning films, The Illusionist continues to show some strength. This week it moved up a slot to number 7 and dropped less than 18% overall. Also continuing to hang on at number 10 is Little Miss Sunshine, which has got to be one of the best success stories of the year.
Three films dropped from the list this week: All the King’s Men (11), The Covenant (13), and Everyone’s Hero (15).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | N | Open Season | $23,624,548 | $23,624,548 | 1 |
| 2 | N | The Guardian | $18,006,064 | $18,006,064 | 1 |
| 3 | 1 | Jackass Number Two | $14,605,343 | $52,070,722 | 2 |
| 4 | N | School for Scoundrels | $8,602,333 | $8,602,333 | 1 |
| 5 | 2 | Jet Li’s Fearless | $4,983,865 | $18,066,869 | 2 |
| 6 | 3 | Gridiron Gang | $4,581,565 | $33,258,307 | 3 |
| 7 | 8 | The Illusionist | $2,735,545 | $31,378,443 | 7 |
| 8 | 4 | Flyboys | $2,351,841 | $9,946,969 | 2 |
| 9 | 6 | The Black Dahlia | $2,129,070 | $20,742,610 | 3 |
| 10 | 10 | Little Miss Sunshine | $1,991,723 | $53,133,641 | 10 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
I was right in my thinking that Open Season and The Guardian would both go over the Jackass sequel, I was just wrong on the order. I also way overestimated the appeal of Everyon’s Hero, as it plummeted to 15th place. All told, this was an OK week for the placing, but another poor one for the dollar figures.
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 2 | 1 | The Guardian | $18,006,064 | $21.5 million |
| 1 | 2 | Open Season | $23,624,548 | $15 million |
| 3 | 3 | Jackass Number Two | $14,605,343 | $12 million |
| 4 | 4 | School for Scoundrels | $8,602,333 | $11.5 million |
| 8 | 5 | Flyboys | $2,351,841 | $4 million |
| 6 | 6 | Gridiron Gang | $4,581,565 | $3.75 million |
| 5 | 7 | Jet Li’s Fearless | $4,983,865 | $3.5 million |
| 15 | 8 | Everyone’s Hero | $1,182,556 | $3.25 million |
| 11 | 9 | All the King’s Men | $1,543,633 | $2 million |
| 7 | 10 | The Illusionist | $2,735,545 | $1.5 million |
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