Nicolas Cage in Ghost Rider
© N/A
Weekend Box Office Report for February 16-18
By: Jarrod SarafinDate: Sunday, February 18, 2007
Nothing says “I love you” like a cursed soul sporting leather on a decked out roadhog and of course on flames. What? You think I’m wrong?
America while celebrating Valentines Day for the most part seems to agree with it...
Of course, Sony pretty much guaranteed it. They released the Ghost Rider on 3,619 screens. Anytime a movie has that many screens and that many showings, it’s going to track great in the Box Office. The Nic Cage starring vehicle pulled in 44.5 mil this weekend in the 1st spot and it averaged $12,296 per screen. Its budget is listed as 110 mil.
The Disney fantasy Bridge to Terabithia landed in 2nd spot taking in 22.0 mil. Not bad for a February 2nd place pull (that’s as good as some first place receipts this time of year). The fantasy opened in 3,139 screens.
Norbit dropped 50% in its second weekend pulling in 16.8 mil to end up in 3rd place. Its budget is at 60 mil and its total domestic gross in the two respective weekends is at 58.8 mil. There was 5 new wide releases so Norbit was the only one in this weeks top 5 spots that didn’t come out this weekend.
Music and Lyrics, the romantic comedy (starring Hugh Grant and Drew Barrymore) landed on the chart in 4th place. It pulled in 14.0 mil in 2,955 screens and it was also released two days ahead of everyone else on Valentines Day itself. It made 5.5 mil on February 14 & 15.
Last year Tyler Perry and Lions Gate had a surprise little hit on their hands in terms of how much it cost for the studio to make the film and the amount of money they made off it. Well, not one to let another opportunity pass, Lionsgate releases Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls this year and it lands in 5th place pulling in 12.1 mil.
Out of all the wide releases this weekend, Breach had the least amount of screens to begin with and it shows since it landed behind the other films here. Universal placed it in 1,489 screens and it ended up in 6th place with a 10.3 mil take in sales.
Now, time for the movies that didn’t open this week or win last week.
Hannibal Rising slipped in its second weekend from 2nd place to 7th place in the chart. The horror thriller starring the early years of Dr. Hannibal Lecter dropped 58 % in 3,003 screens pulling in 5.4 mil to bring its total to 22.1 mil.
The other romantic comedy starring Diane Keaten finished up in 8th place also dropping 45% pulling in 4.9 mil. Because I Said So is now at 33.2 mil total domestic gross in its 3 weeks of release.
Screen Gems continues to make more profit this year with its second movie horror vehicle called The Messengers. The horror appealing to younger crowds pulled in another 3.8 mil this weekend while dropping 47% in its third week of release. Its budget is listed at 16 mil and its total domestic gross is at 30.5 mil.
Coming in the 10th spot is the juggernaut Night at the Museum. In the first 8 weeks of release, it never left the top 5 spots. With so many new wide releases this weekend, it dropped all the way down to 10th. It’s made a killing at the box office pulling in another 3.7 mil while dropping out of 660 screens around the globe. Its total domestic gross is at 237.3 mil and its worldwide total is now at 470.4 mil.
| Rank | Movie | Weekend $ | Screens | Average | Total $ |
| 1 | Ghost Rider | 44.5 mil | 3,619 | $12,296 | 44.5 mil |
| 2 | Bridge to Terabithia | 22.0 mil | 3,139 | $7,032 | 22.0 mil |
| 3 | Norbit | 16.8 mil | 3,138 | $5,354 | 58.8 mil |
| 4 | Music and Lyrics | 14.0 mil | 2,955 | $4,737 | 19.5 mil |
| 5 | Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls | 12.1 mil | 2,111 | $5,731 | 17.7 mil |
| 6 | Breach | 10.3 mil | 1,489 | $6,965 | 10.3 mil |
| 7 | Hannibal Rising | 5.4 mil | 3,003 | $1,819 | 22.1 mil |
| 8 | Because I Said So | 4.9 mil | 2,446 | $2,040 | 33.2 mil |
| 9 | The Messengers | 3.8 mil | 2,183 | $1,740 | 30.5 mil |
| 10 | Night at the Museum | 3.7 mil | 2,042 | $1,811 | 237.3 mil |
I haven’t seen Ghost Rider and even if I had, this isn’t the place to review it. Instead, I can give you Maniacs a little something to think about with this film and the people in charge of making the movie.
The director of Ghost Rider is Mark Steven Johnson. This director has 3 credits to his name (Ghost Rider, Daredevil & Simon Birch). He has 8 writing credits to his name.
Daredevil (another February opened movie) pulled in 102.5 mil for domestic receipts and 179.1 mil worldwide.
The reason I bring this up is there was another man involved in Ghost Rider whom I do have some respect for and know more about. That would of course be David S. Goyer. For those not familiar with Goyer, here’s some statistics for you.
| Movie | Opening $ | Screens | Total Domestic $ | Released On |
| Batman Begins | 48.7 mil | 3,858 | 205.3 mil | 6/15/05 |
| Blade Trinity | 16.0 mil | 2,912 | 52.4 mil | 12/08/04 |
| Zig Zag | $1,649 | 1 | $2,418 | 6/21/02 |
| Blade II | 32.5 mil | 2,707 | 82.3 mil | 3/22/02 |
| Blade | 17.0 mil | 2,389 | 70.0 mil | 8/21/98 |
| Dark City | 5.5 mil | 1,754 | 14.3 mil | 2/27/98 |
| Crow: City of Angels | 9.7 mil | 2,423 | 17.9 mil | 8/30/96 |
| The Puppet Masters | 4.0 mil | 1,482 | 8.6 mil | 10/21/94 |
| Kickboxer 2 | $444,239 | 184 | 1.2 mil | 6/14/91 |
| Death Warrant | 5.0 mil | 1,090 | 16.8 mil | 9/14/90 |
Upcoming Writing credits for David S. Goyer:
Jumper (2008)
The Dark Knight (2008)
Thor (2009)
Captain America (2009)
The reason I bring this to you, Maniacs, is this. Certain online sources of information are conflicting against each other as to what his contribution is in the production of Ghost Rider. Box Office Mojo has Goyer as “Writer” and yet Goyer’s own page over at Imdb.com has Goyer only as “Exec Producer”, not writer. Instead, they have Ghost Rider’s writing credit going only to Mark Steven Johnson (director of the film).
If this is true and imdb has it right (Hey, it happens!), I have to wonder why David S. Goyer wasn’t pegged as the writer for Ghost Rider over Johnson just off sheer success lately. He’s fresh off of Batman Begins working along side the Nolan brothers while also preparing for the next caped crusader installment, The Dark Knight.
It seems an odd choice.
Then again, this may have not been a mistake on the writer selection process. It may have been a personal choice not to write the script for Ghost Rider on Goyer’s part. After all, look at his upcoming movies. He probably has his hands full writing for the Batman, Thor & Captain America movies…
At any rate, it’s information for you Maniacs to see.
Maniac Feedback:
Now, time for some feedback from last week’s box office report. In last week’s column, I put up the chart for box office rankings of all time for actor to actor comparisons. We had a chance to see how Eddie Murphy is sneaking up the ladder (currently in 4th place) towards Hanks and Ford’s spot respectively. In fact, by the time Shrek 3 is done this summer, Murphy could be in 2nd place.
One of our maniacs had a suggestion to correspond with that chart.
Maniac “bjjdenver” had this to say…
Bjjdenver: “I love SLJ, but he doesn't belong at the top of this list. Alot of his roles were not only supporting, but very small. Counting the box office of the Star Wars movies as his is ridiculous when comparing him to these other actors. Why don't we use the numbers to show the total of the guy who played Chewbacca? or R2D2? What I'm saying is there has to be some qualifying factors to count a movie as "theirs". While I think SLJ is a far better actor than at least half of the guys on the list, he is NOT the box office draw that this list shows him as. That said very good article and very debatable stats, nice work.”
Bjjdenver had a good point with this suggestion so I’m inserting a 7th row to account for all movies per actor. I’m going to add another column into the mix to tell the difference between starring roles vs. total movies.
| Rank | Actor | No. Films Starring | Avg. Gross Per Film | Films Over 100.0 mil | Total Gross | Total Movies |
| 1 | Samuel L. Jackson | 37 | 63.0 mil | 11 | 3.7 billion | 68 |
| 2 | Harrison Ford | 28 | 109.9 mil | 11 | 3.2 billion | 34 |
| 3 | Tom Hanks | 30 | 102.2 mil | 14 | 3.0 billion | 32 |
| 4 | Eddie Murphy | 30 | 97.2 mil | 11 | 2.9 billion | 30 |
| 5 | Tom Cruise | 25 | 105.5 mil | 13 | 2.5 billion | 27 |
| 6 | Robin Williams | 33 | 64.5 mil | 9 | 2.3 billion | 43 |
| 7 | Bruce Willis | 39 | 52.8 mil | 6 | 2.2 billion | 43 |
| 8 | Morgan Freeman | 33 | 51.3 mil | 10 | 2.2 billion | 43 |
| 9 | Gene Hackman | 66 | 35.4 mil | 6 | 2.1 billion | 78 |
| 10 | Mel Gibson | 33 | 69.6 mil | 10 | 2.1 billion | 35 |
In another instance of Mania feedback, I had a suggestion thrown my way from our veteran Maniac named Neglet. Neglet is also a moderator here at our Mania Forum Community.
Neglet: “About the last one, I'm curious how actresses' total box office would rank in that chart. I know Keira Knightley had over $900 mill worldwide in 2003 alone (Pirates 1, Bend It Like Beckham, Love Actually), and now she's got the $1 billion+ take of Pirates 2 to add to that.”
Also a good suggestion!
Here’s the all time box office leader board for actresses.
| Rank | Actress | No. Films Starring | Avg. Gross Per Film | Films Over 100.0 mil | Total Gross | Total Movies |
| 1 | Julia Roberts | 26 | 76.6 mil | 10 | 2.1 billion | 33 |
| 2 | Keira Knightley | 10 | 62.7 mil | 3 | 1.9 billion | 14 |
| 3 | Cameron Diaz | 20 | 85.5 mil | 8 | 1.7 billion | 22 |
| 4 | Carrie Fisher | 18 | 79.2 mil | 4 | 1.6 billion | 29 |
| 5 | Drew Barrymore | 30 | 46.9 mil | 6 | 1.5 billion | 38 |
| 6 | Whoopi Goldberg | 25 | 37.4 mil | 4 | 1.5 billion | 38 |
| 7 | Bonnie Hunt | 13 | 49.9 mil | 7 | 1.4 billion | 19 |
| 8 | Kirsten Dunst | 21 | 62.3 mil | 4 | 1.4 billion | 27 |
| 9 | Natalie Portman | 8 | 155.7 mil | 3 | 1.4 billion | 14 |
| 10 | Cate Blanchett | 18 | 41.4 mil | 4 | 1.3 billion | 23 |
That is an interesting group of actresses there. You can see the trends for certain actresses that started small but got involved in large bankable franchises like Spiderman, Star Wars & Pirate of the Caribbean.
The list will be changing this summer too in a couple of spots in a few spots and coincidentally, the actresses moving all have a “third” movie coming out this summer.
Shrek 3-Cameron Diaz
Spidey 3-Kirsten Dunst
Pirates 3-Keira Knightley
It’s very likely Keira and Cameron will be ruling the top 2 spots in the chart by the fall and Kirsten will be close to the top 4 spots as well.
That does it for this week’s feedback. Keep them coming, Maniacs!
Next week’s releases:
February 23, 2007:
Wide Releases
The Abandoned (1,250 screens)
The Astronaut Farmer (2,000+ screens)
The Number 23 (2,500+ screens)
Reno 911!: Miami (2,700 screens)
Limited Releases
Amazing Grace
Glastonbury
Gray Matters (15 screens)
Starter for 10 (20 screens)
Sneak Previews
Miss Potter
Wild Hogs (Sneaks on 800 screens)
