Weekend Box Office Report: PIRATES in a VICE

By: Karl Schneider
Date: Monday, July 31, 2006
Source: Box Office Mojo

Michael Mann's new film, MIAMI VICE, has toppled PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN from the top spot. Pulling in a little over $25 million for the weekend, MIAMI VICE had what can be called a solid opening weekend. Will 'a solid' opening be enough to appease the studio who dropped about $150 million to produce the film? Probably not.

While VICE may have taken the top spot, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN continued it's impressive run with a $20 million weekend haul. The film will soon join an elite group of movies which have managed to pull in $400 million at the domestic box office. Very impressive.

Much less impressive however, is the remainder of the top 10. While newcomer JOHN TUCKER MUST DIE secured a very respectable $14 million, ANT BULLY only found $8 million as it failed to pull kids into theaters. Animated films aimed at younger ages tend to have good to great legs in comparison with other films, but I wouldn't expect the same for ANT BULLY as it faces tough competition. MONSTER HOUSE and CARS remain in theaters, while BARNYARD releases this coming weekend. Where animated films used to be few and far between, they are quickly becoming a dime a dozen.

SUPERMAN RETURNS fell hard to $3.8 million this weekend. The influx of new films is taking a toll on it's theater count and you can expect it to continue to drop large amounts of theaters in coming weeks. As the film has now fallen out of the Top 10, it is now safe for us to look back and analyze it's run. Not hard, it is clearly a disappointment. I never would have believed the film would have failed to reach $200 million earlier this year. With solid reviews and a good film to sell, is this debacle to be blamed on the marketing department or were we just not ready for the man of steel? I don't have an answer for that question.


I will say this: I hope the movie continues to grow it's audience on DVD. While it may not appease everyone, the overall opinion has been resoundingly positive and I would like to see more of Singer's vision for this franchise.

1. Miami Vice - $25,195,000 ($25,195,000)
2. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - $20,492,000 ($358,372,000)
3. John Tucker Must Die - $14,075,000 ($14,075,000)
4. Monster House - $11,500,000 ($43,872,000)
5. The Ant Bully - $8,145,000 ($8,145,000)
6. You, Me and Dupree - $7,036,000 ($59,049,000)
7. Lady in the Water - $7,005,000 ($32,064,000)
8. Little Man - $5,100,000 ($50,163,000)
9. The Devil Wears Prada - $4,775,000 ($106,664,000)
10. Clerks II - $3,945,000 ($18,473,000)
11. Superman Returns - $3,800,000 ($185,806,000)