In an effort to pull myself out of this holiday funk, lets look at the five day figures and see what good came out of it, shall we? First and foremost, Bobby added 1,665 theatres and pulled in $6 million to come in at number nine. A per screen average of $3,600 is only so-so, but it still looks to do better than Men at Work (Emilio sets the bar pretty low...). My single favorite figure this week has to be the percentage jump for Bobby: 8,707%. Of course, it was only in two theatres last week, but still, it's fun to see a movie's box office climb by eight thousand percent.

At the risk of drawing the uni-bomber out of retirement, I'm going to state right out that I am not a Tenacious D fan. I have friends who put it on every time I come over, and no matter how many times I see it in varying states of sobriety, it's always made me cringe more than laugh. Nothing against Jack Black, but it brought a smile to my face when I saw that The Pick of Destiny only did $5 million for a $2,700 average to land at number eleven on the list (worse, even, than The Fountain, despite having 500 more theatres).

I'm reaching for this little tidbit of good news, but Deck the Halls opened with $16.8 million in the number four spot. I only mention it because I caught some of The Big Kahuna on IFC a few weeks ago and was reminded what a terrific and subtle actor Danny DeVito can be when he's given the chance. Halls is almost certainly not that chance, but it's still good to see him open a feature with so-so numbers. Here's hoping it brings him some better work.

So that's the good news. In the category of 'eh...' news, Happy Feet took the long weekend with $51.5 million, putting its total at $100 million even. I just can't help but wonder, if Feet swapped release dates with Flushed Away or Barnyard, would they swap box office totals, too?

Casino Royale came in at number two with $45 million and a $94 million total. It looks to have bailed out the Bond franchise and given Daniel Craig's career a jumpstart, but Box Office Mojo is reporting the budget at $150 million dollars. With no stars. Wasn't this supposed to be the pared-down, gadget-less Bond? Where did all that money go? My personal conjecture is that, like Superman, Sony blew a ton of money on development, but it seems to have paid off. With the foreign totals, it's at $222 million, well into the black with lots of weeks left in the top ten.

Deck the Halls came in at number four, followed by Borat with $15.4 million and a total of $109. Sacha Baron Cohen is officially a movie star. That's the power of box office, folks. A few weeks ago, he did a fairly obscure show for a pay cable network. Now he's joined the ranks of Will Ferrell and Steve Carell as the hottest comic properties in Hollywood. As long as he doesn't screw up too badly, he'll never have to work again.

Just like that.

The Santa Clause 3 finished sixth with $13.8 million and a $67 million cume. Stranger Than Fiction was seventh with $8.4 million and a $32 million total, just over it's $30 million dollar budget. Flushed Away was next with $7.6 million, followed by Bobby's $6 million.

Finally, in the ten spot, The Fountain opened to just $5.4 million from 1400 theatres for a $3,600 average. Guess those guys at Fox are glad they made Darren trim the budget down. Numbers aside, though, I'd like to buy Richard Corliss at Time a beer for giving it a good review as well, although for slightly different reasons, I think (I was less enamored with the love story than with the thematic complexities).

Posted in Industry , Moviegasm , Newsgasm by Sutter Cane at 12:00 PM | Permalink | Comments (4)
Last Comment: knidsrok on Dec 2, 2006 11:19 AM.

Comments (4)

silentfire :

Thank God I'am not the only one who doesn't like Tenacious D. Seems like anytime I mention how his music sucks and isn't even funny people give me the "Are you serious look?".

I agree with you on Babel being good but I need to see it again before I declare it Inarritu's best film. I personally thought the 2 boys and the deaf mute girl were awesome in the movie.

1 of 4 | Posted by silentfire | Posted on November 27, 2006 3:33 PM

Wake Up Sucker :

Too bad Aronofsky spent years of his life making a movie for 5.4 million and mediocre reviews. He's one talented cat. Here's hoping you're right, Sutter, and this movie ends up being one of those late-bloomers. I remember when nobody liked The Big Lebowski...

2 of 4 | Posted by Wake Up Sucker | Posted on November 29, 2006 12:46 AM

wickedstep :

Penguins are just about the greatest creatures on the planet (tied with sea lions and baby gorillas, both a close second to Meer cats) so how does a film ruin penguins? by CGIing the crap out of them, right down to their downy fur, and making them dance. This is a bit tangential, but do you think the black-face makeup, ill fitting tuxes and tap-dancing are subtly referencing an outmoded form of entertainment that might unconsciously appeal to certain segments of America (and explain why so many of us are so turned off but can't explain why?) Discuss. (or don't)

3 of 4 | Posted by wickedstep | Posted on December 1, 2006 5:02 PM

knidsrok :

Michael Richards, is that you?

4 of 4 | Posted by knidsrok | Posted on December 2, 2006 11:19 AM

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