Nicolas Cage as Ben Gates in NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS (2007).
© Walt Disney Pictures
Disney's Stockings Stuffed with TREASURE
By: Jarrod Sarafin, News EditorDate: Sunday, December 30, 2007
None of the films released on Christmas day had any print distribution over 2,800 so this weekend’s numbers reflect that. This translates to the top 5 films being returning movies from previous weekends. The top 3 films have at least 3,484 theaters playing for their respective studios, which accounts for all three having at least 124 million or higher in domestic totals, taking full advantage of the holiday audiences.
Leading the top of the box office food chain for this weekend is last week’s returning champion, National Treasure: Book of Secrets. The Disney sequel took in another 72.3 million since Christmas day, 35.6 million of it being from the weekend. The studio has it showing in 3,832 theaters so this makes for an average of $9,298 per showing in its second week of release. While the studio hasn’t released its budget for this project, it’s safe to say a film accumulating 124.0 million in only 10 days makes for a successful bout at the box office. It took the original film 4 weeks to get this exact number back in 2004 so this sequel is clearly a success.
Now, we come to the surprise blockbuster for 20th Century Fox. I knew Alvin and the Chipmunks would be a success for the studio because it has a small budget (60 mil) and it seems to be the only straight-up children-focused film out this week other than the debuting Water Horse tale. That said, not even I expected these kinds of numbers. Not 142.3 million in 17 days. Alvin and his singing friends grabbed 53.9 million over the 6-day holiday, 30.0 of it being this weekend’s totals. As I say above, in 17 days of domestic release, the film has attracted 142.3 mil in cash for Fox.
Next up is the returning I Am Legend for Warner Bros., which follows in 3rd place with 27.5 mil over the weekend. Over the course of the 6-day holiday, the film has picked up another 53.4 million. Basically, it was neck and neck with Alvin, having only $500,000 less since Christmas. As with the previous two films, WB clearly has a blockbuster on their hands with the latest Will Smith vehicle. Legend has 194.5 million in domestic receipts thus far and it has another 61.3 million in its foreign release as well. In 17 days of release, it has a worldwide gross of 255.8 million.
And with those films accounted for, it’s time to talk about the smaller distributed flicks for this holiday week. No film has a distribution over 2,800 and the best performance of the group goes to the limited released Juno, which only has 998 theaters and averaged the highest of the top 10 with $10,320.
Following behind Legend in 4th place is the returning Charlie Wilson’s War for Universal Pictures. The film pulled in 22.9 mil since the holiday began and 11.7 of it are from this 3-day weekend. The Tom Hanks-Julie Roberts vehicle has a theater distribution of only 2,575 so this makes for an average per showing rate of $4,570. Not bad at all for Universal since the studio did release the budget at only 75 mil. It has half that in only 2 weeks of release and will likely surpass its budget with change when everything is said and done, not to mention all the critical appraise it’s having with the various award nomination races.
Director Diablo Cody has been getting some praise for Juno and while the studio has kept it in limited release for its first three weeks, Fox Searchlight is now expanding it into its wide distribution. It expanded on 694 theaters this weekend and brought in 10.3 million, which makes for the best average showing this weekend with $10,320. Next weekend, it will have 1,850 more theaters added to its distribution so it should be interesting to see how much of a box office increase it gets in next week’s report. Thus far, the film has 25.6 mil in domestic receipts.
This brings us to the only 2 new wide releases, which opened up on Christmas day. One is rated-r genre film while the other is a PG-family genre film. Landing in 6th place is Aliens vs. Predator: Requiem with a weekend total of 10.0 million in receipts. Since its launch on Tuesday, the film has pulled in 26.8 million in its moderate 2,611 theaters across the nation. Not a bad set of box office numbers for Fox here considering that this film is definitely a hard R affair with a much smaller theater distribution then the top films in the report. Fox hasn’t released a budget for the film but 27 mil seems to be a good opener for the studio given its overwhelming competition. We’ll know more of the success (or lack there of) when this film hits some foreign markets.
Following in 7th place is the debuting Water Horse: Legend of the Deep for Sony, which pulled in 9.2 mil for the 3-day weekend. Since Tuesday, it has grabbed 16.8 mil in domestic receipts. Again, the studio has released no budget for this film. It had a respectable theater distribution of 2,772 prints across the nation, which makes for an average of $3,318 per showing.
P.S I Love You lands only $100,000 short of Water Horse by pulling in 9.1 mil for the weekend. As with films like Charlie Wilson’s War, this release is more of an alternative choice for audiences with the studio targeting said demographics with only 2,464 prints. In two weeks of release, the film has pulled in 23.3 mil in domestic receipts.
One has to wonder what Paramount & Dreamworks would be making if they released Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street in a wide distribution…The genre-focused musical starring Johnny Depp has done very respectable numbers for a film which only has 1,249 prints going in the states. This weekend, it lands in 9th place with 8.0 mil for the weekend while it took in 16.3 mil since Tuesday. As I said with the Tom Hanks film, this movie was primarily released to get into theaters before nomination ballots were sent out but it seems to me that this film would have some serious box office cash if they gave it more of a wide release. In 10 days, it has taken in 26.7 million on its 1,249 theaters.
Landing in last place for the top 10 is the returning Enchanted. Disney has begun pulling this film out of theaters but the film is still showing in 2,262 theaters here in the states so it managed another ranking in its sixth week of release. The film pulled in 6.5 million over the 3-day weekend. Like the National Treasure sequel, Disney very clearly has a success on their hands here even if they haven’t released a budget. In six weeks, it has accumulated 110.6 mil domestically and another 54.3 internationally, which makes for a worldwide gross of 164.9 mil.
| Rank | Movie | Weekend $ | Theaters | Average | Total $ | Week # |
| 1 | National Treasure: Book of Secrets | 35.6 mil | 3,832 | $9,298 | 124.0 mil | 2 |
| 2 | Alvin and the Chipmunks | 30.0 mil | 3,484 | $8,610 | 142.3 mil | 3 |
| 3 | I Am Legend | 27.5 mil | 3,636 | $7,563 | 194.5 mil | 3 |
| 4 | Charlie Wilson’s War | 11.7 mil | 2,575 | $4,570 | 34.5 mil | 2 |
| 5 | Juno | 10.3 mil | 998 | $10,320 | 25.6 mil | 4 |
| 6 | Aliens vs. Predator:Requiem | 10.0 mil | 2,611 | $3,849 | 26.8 mil | 1 |
| 7 | The Water Horse: Legend of the Deep | 9.2 mil | 2,772 | $3,318 | 16.8 mil | 1 |
| 8 | P.S I Love You | 9.1 mil | 2,464 | $3,693 | 23.3 mil | 2 |
| 9 | Sweeney Todd | 8.0 mil | 1,249 | $6,405 | 26.7 mil | 2 |
| 10 | Enchanted | 6.5 mil | 2,262 | $2,873 | 110.6 mil | 6 |
For all intensive purposes, the same films which ruled over the box office this past holiday week will also be in the top slots for the next ten days, which gives all the films to make some serious cash in a short amount of time.
We have only one wide release next weekend and it’s a horror film, a genre that hasn’t done very well over the past few months. Add on the fact that it’s getting released in only 2,200+ theaters and it’s easy to see it has no shot against the widely distributed family-focused competition which you see above in this weekend’s numbers.
Another year has ended with this box office report and I’ve enjoyed listening to all of you fellow Maniacs discuss the numbers game over the course of the past year so I’ll end this with one final note...
Have a kick-ass & safe New Years holiday!
Friday January 4, 2008 releases:
Wide Releases
One Missed Call (2,200+ theaters)
Juno (added to 1,850+ theaters)
Limited Releases
Atonement
The Orphanage
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Weekend Box Office Report for February 16-18
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DVD Review: NATIONAL TREASURE: BOOK OF SECRETS
(Thursday, May 15, 2008)
National Treasure: Book of Secrets
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AVP2 did ok. Not great, not horrible.
Charlie Wilson's War I would only claim as a moderate success due to the difficulty of the subject material for your typical mainstream audience. Tom Hanks and Julia Roberts probably account for a good portion of the film's budget, but even they couldn't generate enough interest for this film to be a second weekend of animated singing chipmunks.
Looking forward to next year with some solid (thinking mostly Iron Man and Batman here) genre films coming down the pipe.