Box Office Update: Tyler Perry Owns the Box Office

Posted by John Cairns (jcairns@filmschoolrejects.com) on October 15, 2007

Well, Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married won the slugfest that was the box office race this week. Really, it could have gone in any number of directions this week, and as it turned out Tyler Perry wound up winning in yet another upset. In another upset, The Game Plan starring the Rock continued its winning ways, with a second-place finish. That beats the 11 mil that Michael Clayton got, and the 11 mil that We Own the Night got, and all the other numbers we’re still seeing at the box office.

I should have known. Me, I made my prediction about Tyler Perry’s movie, gave my middling assessment, and then threw in at the end that this same guy made Diary of a Mad Black Woman which cleaned up. I should never underestimate this guy’s ability to pack ‘em in at the theaters.

I should also never underestimate the ability of people to make a movie starring the Rock into a hit. The Game Plan only dropped 30% from last week. So this movie is cleaning up.

As for George Clooney, well, all I will say about my Michael Clayton prediction going up in smoke is this is what happens when you make a flick aimed at an adult audience. Nobody will show up! That’s the way it is, to quote Walter Cronkite. I notice Nikki Finke was ranting and raving at her blog about how this shows that George can’t carry a movie, and all that. Listen, I think he’d carry more movies if they were summer blockbusters aimed at kids. These serious-minded, Oscar-worthy movies just won’t do.

I went to the theater on the weekend to see Michael Clayton, and I took one look around at the empty seats in there and realized this movie was finished. Too bad, because it’s a really good movie, one of the better ones I’ve seen this year.

Anyway that does it, from now on I will make my box office picks based on how many WWE stars are in the movie. That’s that.

The final numbers courtesy of Box Office Mojo:

Release	Studio	Predicted Gross
Tyler Perry’s Why Did I Get Married?	Lionsgate	$21,500,000
The Game Plan	Buena Vista	$11,506,000
Michael Clayton	Warner Bros.	$11,010,000
We Own the Night	Columia	$11,000,000
The Heartbreak Kid	Paramount / Dreamworks	$7,425,000
Elizabeth: The Golden Age	Universal	$6,183,000
The Kingdom	Universal	$4,566,000
Across the Universe	Revolution	$4,000,000
Resident Evil: Extinction	Screengems	$2,650,000
The Seeker: The Dark is Rising	Fox-Walden	$2,150,000

Other disappointments were The Final Season which finished way down the list in 20th spot with $665 grand!!! That’s what you get when you roll a baseball movie out during the playoffs: a flop. This is way worse than what even I expected.

Anyway that’s that, another week of my predictions up in smoke. See you later this week for more box-office predictions here at The Reject Report.