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There's Something about PollyTim Briody's Weekend Wrap-UpJanuary 19, 2004
There won't be any dispute this weekend, as Along Came Polly comes along
and knocks Return of the King out of the number one spot for good, with an
impressive opening figure for the month of January.
The number one film of the weekend is the Ben Stiller/Jennifer Aniston
comedy Along Came Polly, earning a very solid $27.6 million over the
weekend. Such a figure is good news for both leads. Stiller badly needed a
hit after a miserable 2003, and Aniston needs something else good on her
resume when the Friends gravy train ends in May. The latest film in the
"let's see what embarassing situations we can put Ben Stiller in now!"
series also set a Martin Luther King, Jr. holiday weekend record, beating the $23.4 million
Save the Last Dance earned in 2001.
Despite iffy marketing and a 32% Fresh rating at Rotten Tomatoes, Polly
somehow struck a chord with moviegoers, perhaps those needing a date movie
or wanting something a bit lighter than Big Fish. How well it holds up
from here, though, remains to be seen.
Holding in second place this weekend is Tim Burton's Big Fish, down less
than 25% from last weekend with $10.4 million. Its total now stands at
$37.9 million. As awards season kicks into high gear, any accolades Big
Fish earns will only help its total in the coming weeks.
Third this weekend goes to Torque, the long-delayed Fast and the
Furious rip-off starring Ice Cube. Torque managed an estimated $10.3
million. Considering there is a $65,000 difference between Torque and
Return of the King, it wouldn't surprise me to see that a little number
fudging was done to get the film into the top three. With just an 18%
Fresh rating and the fickleness of the target audience, watch Torque fall
off the radar pretty fast from here.
The Lord of the Rings: Return of the King falls from first to fourth
after four weekends at the top, with an estimated $10.2 million. The film
now stands at $326.8 million. Down 28.2% from last weekend, the hobbits
will probably see weekly declines accelerate from here barring some
major award wins. Even so, the final film of the trilogy passed Fellowship
of the Ring's final total during the week, and is another weekend or so
away from surpassing The Two Towers' total and bringing the total haul of
the franchise to the $1 billion mark.
The Steve Martin family comedy Cheaper By The Dozen takes fifth, off 25%
from last weekend with $8.7 million and a total take of $111.9 million.
It's looking for a final total in the $140-150 million range. Steve is
probably off somewhere counting his money and trying to find ways to turn
the calendar back to the year 2003.
Cold Mountain gears up for next weekend's Golden Globes by taking sixth
with a $7 million weekend, off just 11% from last week ater adding 500
screens. It's made $65 million after four weekends, though its final range
is still in doubt depending on how it does with the Hollywood Foreign
Press and the Academy.
Something's Gotta Give crosses the $100 million mark in its sixth weekend
with a $6 million weekend. It's off 22% from last weekend, showing that it
wasn't affected by the screener popping up on the net earlier this week.
The total for the Jack Nicholson/Diane Keaton flick to date is $100.9
million.
Eighth goes to My Baby's Daddy, falling a predictible 51.6% from last
weekend with $3.7 million. It's got $12.4 million after two weekends, and
probably doesn't even have a $20 million total in its future.
In ninth we find another film that entered 2003's crowded $100 million club
this weekend. Tom Cruise's The Last Samurai falls 31% from last weekend
with $3.1 million and brings its total to $102 million after seven
weekends. The final gross for the epic looks to be in the $115-120 million
range.
Sneaking into the top ten is Calendar Girls, despite being down 18% from
last weekend. With a $3 million gross on less than 1,000 screens, the
older, female version of The Full Monty has earned $17.2 million to date.
It's not the sleeper hit some expected, but it's performed decently so
far.
The weekend's third opener was dead on arrival as Teacher's Pet earned
$2.3 million to finish out of the money. It'll make more on DVD than it
will in theaters, so don't waste any tears on it.
Despite the breakout performance of Along Came Polly, the top ten films
could only muster $89.9 million this weekend, as opposed to last year,
when the Kangaroo Jack-led top ten earned $98.7 million.
Due to the holiday, final figures won't be available until Tuesday, so
check back then for final three and four-day figures from this weekend's
films.
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Thursday, October 31, 2024
© 2006 Box Office Prophets, a division of One Of Us, Inc.
