Box Office Report: The Return of Mel Gibson
Filed under: Action, Animation, Comedy, Box Office, Family Films, Newsstand, Remakes and Sequels
Say all you want about Mel Gibson's driving, audiences were curious enough (about another Gibson film? about the Mayan civilization? about whether or not there would be a slew of Jewish jokes -- like that one about the Rabbi who wondered into the forest and was chased by a tribe for a little over two hours?) to show up and help Apocalypto finish in the number one spot this weekend. Granted, it's $14.2 million didn't break any records, and just barely beat out a film with one helluva odd cast (Jack Black, Jude Law, Kate Winslet and Cameron Diaz? Who cast this film -- identical twin sisters who hate one another?), but it still managed to finally knock Happy Feet and Casino Royale out of the top two spots.
Now comes the fun part -- did Apocalypto generate enough buzz to carry it onward and upward? Or will it crash after people realize they have to read words on the bottom of the screen for a really long time? My personal prediction? Depending on whether Oscar throws him a bone, I'd say Apocalypto tops out at around $43 million domestically. As previously noted, The Holiday ($13.5 million) took the weekend's second spot, while Happy Feet ($12.7 million) lingered around in the third position. Casino Royale continued to feed off penguin leftovers; it took fourth with $8.8 million. Perhaps the idea of Leonardo DiCaprio with a strange accent hurt its opening, or maybe the competition was just too tough (I know folks must have been dying for a nice, wholesome chick flick) -- regardless, Blood Diamond finished fifth with $8.5 million.
Unaccompanied Minors ($6.2 million) gut stuck duking it out with Deja Vu ($6.1 million), while The Nativity Story ($5.6 million) dipped a bit more this week, despite the fact that it's playing in 3,083 freaking theaters. This year's two dreadful Christmas comedies, Deck the Halls ($3.9 million) and The Santa Clause 3 ($3.3 million), rounded out the top ten.
Full numbers after the jump.
1. Apocalypto, $14.2 million.
2. The Holiday, $13.5 million.
3. Happy Feet, $12.7 million.
4. Casino Royale, $8.8 million.
5. Blood Diamond, $8.5 million.
6. Unaccompanied Minors, $6.2 million.
7. Deja Vu, $6.1 million.
8. The Nativity Story, $5.6 million.
9. Deck the Halls, $3.9 million.
10. The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, $3.3 million.
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Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
12-11-2006 @ 10:32AM
Bryant said...
should read "300 trailer tops box office"...thats the only reason i went to see it
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12-11-2006 @ 12:17PM
gadlaw said...
Knowing that my favorite football team was going to continue it's crash and burn story this Sunday I was more than happy to be able to watch the weekend box office race. Faster than an America's Cup Race but slower than the Tour de France, both of which I enjoy, this weekend's box office was pretty darn exciting. And for me a lot of the fun to any sport is hearing the commentators and experts pontificate about the upcoming event with their predictions and observations. Reading reviewers give their particular take on movies you can identify the attitudes, prejudices, likes and dislikes of each writer above and beyond the qualities of the movie being reviewed. Like a cross between sports and politics you know the studio predictions about box office are couched in terms of lowering expectations and carefully worded explanations about why something did or didn't do as well as they had hoped. It's a great show.
I'm fascinated that the Apocalypto studio people seemed to accurately predict what their opening weekend would be. I'm interested in the fact that the Blood Diamond people fell short of their predictions. The Casino Royale people weathered a storm of doubt about their choice for a new James Bond and have done exceptionally well. I didn't even see Happy Feet coming and it's been the biggest box office of the season. You can't go anywhere now without hearing about Eragon opening on Friday or Rocky Balboa opening on the 20th. I think Eragon will open big but will it be the next Narnia or the next Dungeon's and Dragons movie? It depends on how good it it. Good or bad, it'll open big on the strength of all the commercials showing the fire breathing dragon. Will Rocky do well? I know I'm going to go see it, it's being marketed to middle America but will all the dads get up and go see it? That's what's so interesting. I don't know Erik if you know of any good articles or books discussing all this box office magic and if there's none, you should write it.
Your prediction about Apocalypto sounds reasonable. I like subtitled movies so I don't have a good grasp on why some folks would avoid a good movie because of subtitles. If it was based on quality of the movie I would think it would do better than that but with so many factors who can say for sure. One thing for sure though is that no matter what the number end up as people will use those numbers to attack or praise Mel Gibson and his movie. And that's cool. I know I'm going to go see it again before Rocky opens and it's definitely on my buy on DVD list. I do know that you guys should shave James Rocci's head, put a dress on him, take his picture and put it up here for his predictions and review about how Apocalypto would do. Just kidding. - Put his picture up and I'll photoshop it that way. :-)
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