Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson star in FOOL'S GOLD(2008).
© Warner Bros.
Audiences Hunt After FOOL'S GOLD
By: Jarrod Sarafin, News EditorDate: Sunday, February 10, 2008
No new major genre releases to discuss in this weekend’s box office report but the two new films which debuted landed in the top two spots. Leading the pack is the romantic-adventure Fool’s Gold from Warner Bros. The film, starring Matthew McConaughey and Kate Hudson, took advantage of a slow week and the date crowd by pulling in 22.0 million on its 3,125 theaters across the nation. This has it averaging $7,043 per showing on each of those prints. No budget given for the film by WB
Universal’s Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins follows in second place overall but finished with the better average-per-showing rate due its smaller theatrical launch. The family comedy opened up in 2,386 theaters this weekend and had 17.1 mil to show for it, which has its average at $7,178 per showing. Like Fool’s Gold, there’s no production budget to list here but it likely isn’t very high for Universal.
Dropping 2 slots from the last report is Disney’s Hannah Montana/Miley Cyrus: Best of Both Worlds Concert Tour. The highly successful film may have dropped 66% in its second week of release but it’s still only getting viewed in 687 theaters so pulling in 10.5 mil in 3rd place is still remarkable. Like its record-breaking debut, it still has the highest average rate of the top 10 at $15, 295. No budget to report but it has grabbed 53.3 mil in cash over the past 10 days.
Following in 4th place is the horror remake of The Eye from Lionsgate. The Jessica Alba vehicle dropped 46% in its second week and pulled in another 6.6 mil. It’s getting shown in 2,470 theaters so this points to a rather unremarkable average of $2,684 per showing. In 10 days of release, the remake of the original Pang-directed horror has grossed 21.5 million domestically.
Fox Searchlight’s Juno continues to impress by staying strong. In its tenth week of release, the film moved up a slot to 5th place and cashed in another 5.725 million in receipts. While Fox didn’t list a budget for the critically acclaimed film, we know the budget must be low so its domestic gross of 117.6 million is all that more impressive. It’s not often that a potential award winner will also enjoy box office success due to the normal limited theatrical practices sometimes used by studios.
It’s Fox again in 6th place with their 27 Dresses, which has been taking advantage of being an alternative choice for couples against some major genre releases like Cloverfield and Rambo. The film follows behind Juno by only $25,000, taking in 5.7 million. This points to a drop of only 33% in its fourth week of release and has its overall domestic gross sitting at 65.3 mil. Not too shabby at all when considering its production budget is listed at only 30 mil.
WB’s The Bucket List didn’t move anywhere from last week, maintaining the 7th place and taking in another 5.3 mil from audiences. The studio listed the Rob Reiner film at 45 mil and it has grossed 87.9 mil worldwide in seven weeks of release.
For the first time since it debuted three weeks ago, Rambo has finished ahead (barely) of Meet the Spartans by pulling in 4.1 mil. The Lionsgate distributed sequel to the iconic action hero dropped 42% and three slots from its previous weekend totals and has grossed 36.5 mil domestically. Sly’s latest has another 9.8 mil in overseas numbers, which means the 50 million vehicle has 46.4 worldwide.
Fox’s Meet the Spartans dropped 5 places into 9th over the weekend and ended with 4.0 in sales. The spoof of 300 (and other topics) has no production budget listed but it has grossed 33.9 domestically in three weeks of release.
Landing in the final 10th place once again is the re-release of Paramount Vantage’s There Will Be Blood. The critically acclaimed film took in another 4.0 mil in its seventh week of release. It’s getting shown in 1,620 theaters across the nation so this points to an average rate of $2,514. Domestically, it has grossed 26.7 mil to date.
| Rank | Movie | Weekend $ | Theaters | Average | Total $ | Budget | Week # |
| 1 | Fool’s Gold | 22.0 mil | 3,125 | $7,043 | 22.0 mil | - | 1 |
| 2 | Welcome Home Roscoe Jenkins | 17.7 mil | 2,386 | $7,178 | 17.7 mil | - | 1 |
| 3 | Hannah Montana & Miley Cyrus | 10.5 mil | 687 | $15,295 | 53.3 mil | - | 2 |
| 4 | The Eye | 6.6 mil | 2,470 | $2,684 | 21.5 mil | - | 2 |
| 5 | Juno | 5.7 mil | 2,321 | $2,466 | 117.6 mil | - | 10 |
| 6 | 27 Dresses | 5.7 mil | 2,841 | $2,006 | 65.3 mil | 30 | 4 |
| 7 | The Bucket List | 5.3 mil | 2,753 | $1,939 | 75.0 mil | 45 | 7 |
| 8 | Rambo | 4.1 mil | 2,717 | $1,512 | 36.5 mil | 50 | 3 |
| 9 | Meet the Spartans | 4.0 mil | 2,446 | $1,665 | 33.9 mil | - | 3 |
| 10 | There Will Be Blood | 4.0 mil | 1,620 | $2,514 | 26.7 mil | - | 7 |
Next weekend should be interesting to watch in terms of the box office race. We have two major franchise-potential fantasies hitting the market along with niche-demographics minded features like the romantic comedy Definitely, Maybe and the music drama Step Up 2.
I’d say that Spiderwick has the advantage here due to the source material being more open to children and of course, the Indy IV trailer attached doesn’t hurt it at all. But I know that a lot of people also interested in Jumper and it has its own crowd of older demographics. Both fantasies are getting nearly the same theatrical release and the length of time is virtually identical.
The Doug Liman-directed Jumper has a running time of 1 hr and 30. The Mark Waters-led Spiderwick clocks in at 1 hr and 37 minutes and has only 150 more theaters than its counterpart. Basically, both vehicles will be getting the same amount of showings per day in their theaters even if Spider has a few more theaters.
It should also be interesting to see if the alternative-choice minded dance-off sequel and the romantic comedy play a part in taking some of that box office cash from the top 2 major releases. In the past, I would have said “No, they wouldn’t really affect them” but these dance-off films seem to do rather well within their own demographics and romantic comedies are obviously great date movies. Than again, couples would be fine with watching the fantasies as well.
Anyway, should be interesting…
Maniacs, which film lands on top in next weekend’s report? Let’s hear your thoughts.
Friday Feb 15, 2008 Releases:
Wide
Spiderwick Chronicles (3,500 theaters)
Jumper (3,350 theaters)
Step Up 2 the Streets (2,300+ theaters)
Definitely, Maybe (2,200+ theaters)
Limited
George A Romero’s Diary of the Dead
The Year My Parents Went on Vacation
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