Box Office Update: Can’t Stop Happy Feet or Bond
Posted by Chris Beaumont (chrisbeaumont@filmschoolrejects.com) on December 5, 2006
For three weeks the same pair of films have reigned supreme above all others. It hasn’t even been all that close during that span. Sure, the gap has been shrinking between these two and the rest of the field, but the gap is still in the multi-million range. Before Happy Feet and Casino Royale came out, I would not have believed that they would both be doing this well. After seeing the two of them, I am very happy to see it. Both of them a very good films, in particular Casino Royale which has begun a Bond Renaissance, I cannot wait to see what they do next.
This week featured the release of three new films to the nationwide release platform. None of them have proven to be much of a box office threat. The highest ranking of the three is the Biblically themed film The Nativity Story. This tells the story of the first Christmas, and is rather mediocre in its execution. The public responded to it in kind with a lukewarm response, a response I am sure the studio’s not terribly happy with. Move all the way down to eigth and you will find the lame torture flick Turistas. It is marketed like another version of Hostel, but is more like Mr. Rogers Neighborhood. It just does not deliver the bloody goods. Slip down a little further and you will find the Van Wilder sequel, focusing on Kal Penn’s Taj character, placing tenth. The movie is a muddled mess that without the couple of lovely ladies and the good presence of Penn would be completely worthless.
All of the returning films took pretty steep hits this weekend. Stranger Than Fiction actually held onto the best portion of its audience with its 41.4% drop, while Borat dropped the most at 54% down from last week. I think that Cohen’s comedy has seen its better days, and it will start to drop pretty quick.
Next week will be interesting to see if any newcomers will be able to challenge the reign of the current top two. I have a feeling that they will drop with with upcoming Apocalypto, Blood Diamond, and The Holiday due to invade the multiplexes.
Three films dropped from the list this week: Flushed Away (11), Bobby (12), and The Fountain(13).
| This Week | Last Week | Title | Wknd Gross | Overall | Week in release |
| 1 | 1 | Happy Feet | $17,545,418 | $121,501,018 | 3 |
| 2 | 2 | Casino Royale | $15,112,870 | $115,876,024 | 3 |
| 3 | 3 | Deja Vu | $10,947,752 | $44,007,448 | 2 |
| 4 | N | The Nativity Story | $7,849,304 | $7,849,304 | 1 |
| 5 | 4 | Deck the Halls | $6,676,139 | $25,017,188 | 2 |
| 6 | 6 | The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause | $4,893,966 | $73,039,485 | 5 |
| 7 | 5 | Borat | $4,746,746 | $116,241,347 | 5 |
| 8 | N | Turistas | $3,582,554 | $3,582,554 | 1 |
| 9 | 8 | Stranger Than Fiction | $3,356,324 | $36,911,009 | 4 |
| 10 | N | National Lampoon’s Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj | $2,313,372 | $2,313,372 | 1 |
Box Office Predictions Recap
Penguins and Bond sit atop the box office charts for the third straight weekend, a feat that hasn’t been accomplished in a few years. On top of that, the top three repeated for the second straight week. The new competition released this week proved to not be. My predictions didn’t go all that well, I did get the top two positions, and a couple others that were pretty close, but my dollar amounts were off, as per usual. This is fun.
| Actual | Prediction | Title | Wknd Gross | Prediction |
| 1 | 1 | Happy Feet | $17,545,418 | $25 million |
| 2 | 2 | Casino Royale | $15,112,870 | $18 million |
| 4 | 3 | The Nativity Story | $7,849,304 | $16.5 million |
| 5 | 4 | Deck the Halls | $6,676,139 | $9 million |
| 3 | 5 | Deja Vu | $10,947,752 | $8 million |
| 10 | 6 | National Lampoon’s Van Wilder 2: The Rise of Taj | $2,313,372 | $7 million |
| 8 | 7 | Turistas | $3,582,554 | $7 million |
| 6 | 8 | Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause | $4,893,966 | $5 million |
| 7 | 9 | Borat | $4,746,746 | $4 million |
| 9 | 10 | Stranger than Fiction | $3,356,324 | $2.5 million |
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