Weekend Wrap-Up for April 13-15, 2007

Paramount and Disturbia Hot at the Box Office

By John Hamann

April 15, 2007

Shia works on his very special Indiana Jones project, complete with glue!

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Finishing a disappointing fourth is Perfect Stranger, the Bruce Willis/Halle Berry thriller. This one got out-dueled by the surprisingly popular Disturbia, and earned only $11.5 million from 2,661 venues. Some thought that these two thrillers would cannibalize each other, but it wasn't the case, as Disturbia stole the show. Bruce Willis hasn't opened a live action feature above $20 million since Unbreakable in 2000 (he was hardly the draw in Sin City), but the combination of Halle Barry could have put this one over the top. The problem with Halle Berry is that apart from franchises with built-in audiences, she's had a tough time of it lately as well. The awful Catwoman opened to $16 million, but left an ugly mark on her resume due to the complete mess that film was. Apart from that, we have to go back to 2003's Gothika for a decent performance - that one opened to $19.3 million. Willis and Berry together were never going to have a pedestrian film like this open to over $20 million, especially with the reviews it got. At RottenTomatoes, 101 reviewers chimed in on Perfect Stranger, and most hated it, with only 13 finding something to like. That gives this thriller a rotten rating of 13%, a far cry from Disturbia's 67% fresh rating. This one will be gone very quick, and in the Wal-Mart $5.99 bin before you know it.

Fifth this weekend is Are We Done Yet?, a question answered by saying Not Yet, But Soon. After finishing third last weekend with $14.3 million, the Ice Cube comedy grossed $9.2 million in its second frame. That equals a drop of 35%, a figure I hope most are happy with. The first film in this series somehow dropped a mere 12% in its second frame (and was one of the worst films ever), so a larger drop for this equally bad film is quite refreshing. So far, the sequel has earned $33 million, so we can all hope together that $50 million isn't enough to green light a third film in this series.




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It was a very tight race for the bottom rungs of the box office ladder, and when tomorrow's actuals are released, any of these films could move three or four spots up or down. Finishing sixth is a new release, the ultra-violent Pathfinder, which wasn't able to match the fan-base of 300. Pathfinder earned $4.8 million in its first weekend, and not a complete disaster considering it was only released to 1,720 venues. It had an average of $2,791. With its small amount of screens, and limited marketing budget, this one looks like the theatrical release was more of an ad for the DVD release, which will now be only a few months away. Starring no one and full of bloody effects, Pathfinder was made for a trim $45 million. It also carried an R rating, so its target audience wasn't old enough to see it in theatres. DVD will be a different story, and those teen boys won't care that it only got a 13% fresh rating at RottenTomatoes.


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