TOP 12: SHARK TALE munches on puppets

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Sunday, October 17, 2004

Most industry experts were expecting Paramount's TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE to open strong and emerge with around $25 million to $30 million in the film's first three days. To their surprise the puppet movie failed to pull those kind of numbers, emerging instead with $12.3 M while last week's champ, DreamWorks' SHARK TALE held on to the number one spot for the third weekend in a row. Buena Vista's FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS also retained its same spot from last week at number two.

Why did TEAM AMERICA perform weaker than everyone expected? That's a good question. Maybe the time of year had something to do with things, and quite possibly it could also be due to SHARK TALE grabbing the attention of parents and young children, leaving the teenagers and young adults off to spend their time doing something else rather than watch a movie. Maybe audiences just didn't want to go see a puppet movie.

The rest of the top 12 fall out in routine fashion. SKY CAPTAIN is at tenth spot and is just about to drop off the list; it will probably exit theaters with around $40 M total for its grosses, well short of the film's estimated $70 M budget. Playing at less than 700 theaters, Focus Features' SHAUN OF THE DEAD is still doing alright while RESIDENT EVIL: APOCALYPSE breached the $50 M barrier at fifteenth overall.

Next week sees the openings of THE GRUDGE, SURVIVING CHRISTMAS as well as the limited release of THE MACHINIST. Can Sarah Michelle Gellar and a ghost dethrone Will Smith and his fishy friends?

Here's the estimated box office receipts of the top twelve films from October 15 through to October 17 with their weekend gross and the movie's total domestic gross to date. The week's new films are signified in red.


BOX OFFICE FRIDAY OCTOBER 15 to SUNDAY OCTOBER 17, 2004:


1. SHARK TALE $22,100,000 $119,820,000
2. FRIDAY NIGHT LIGHTS $13,060,000 $38,662,000
3. TEAM AMERICA: WORLD POLICE $12,300,000 $12,300,000
4. SHALL WE DANCE? $11,623,000 $11,623,000
5. LADDER 49 $8,607,000 $53,851,000
6. TAXI $7,700,000 $23,701,000
7. THE FORGOTTEN $6,000,000 $57,153,000
8. RAISE YOUR VOICE $2,975,000 $8,119,000
9. THE MOTORCYCLE DIARIES $1,685,000 $5,677,000

10. SKY CAPTAIN AND THE WORLD OF TOMORROW $1,310,000 $35,991,000
11. SHAUN OF THE DEAD $1,106,000 $11,266,000
12. I HEART HUCKABEES $920,000 $2,606,000


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