Weekend Box Office (April 15 - 17, 2005)

by Gitesh Pandya

THIS WEEKEND For the eighth consecutive frame, the North American box office was down from a year ago with the top ten dipping to yet another low for the year. The weekend's only new release, The Amityville Horror, easily led the weak field with a solid bow but the lack of competition allowed most holdovers to post sturdy holds.

MGM's fright flick remake The Amityville Horror topped the charts in its debut grossing $23.5M from 3,323 theaters for a solid $7,074 average, according to final studio figures. Directed by Andrew Douglas, the R-rated film offered moviegoers a new telling of the 1979 classic about a couple that moves into a haunted house where grisly murders took place. Just like 2003's The Texas Chainsaw Massacre and last year's Dawn of the Dead, Amityville was a remake of a popular horror flick from decades ago featuring younger stars of today. All opened at number one with more than $20M each. Poor reviews did little to deter fans from the $19M Ryan Reynolds starrer which should become a very profitable title for MGM which is in the process of being gobbled up by Sony.

Part of the current marketplace slump can be attributed to the lack of a mega-blockbuster like The Passion of the Christ which fueled spring sales last year with an eye-popping $360.8M at this point. By comparison, this year's top-grossing film Hitch has grossed less than half of that amount. However, another major contributor to the current lackluster climate is a significant reduction in the number of new films opening. So far, 34 new wide releases have opened this year, down 28% from the 47 during the same period last year. Hollywood hopes to reverse the curse in the coming weeks as the lucrative summer season approaches where a long line of sequels and remakes will bust into multiplexes from coast to coast.

Dropping only 28% in its second weekend was Paramount's African adventure Sahara with $13.1M pushing the ten-day tally to $36.4M. Produced for over $120M, the PG-13 flick should find its way to around $70-75M domestically. Fellow sophomore Fever Pitch also held up well slipping only 31% to $8.5M giving Fox $23.7M after ten days. The Drew Barrymore-Jimmy Fallon comedy carries a production cost of $30M and seems headed for a $45-50M finish.

Miramax's crime thriller Sin City witnessed another steep fall tumbling 53% to $6.7M in its third weekend lifting the cume to $61.3M. Sony lost only 31% for its comedy Guess Who which grossed $4.9M giving the Bernie Mac-Ashton Kutcher pic $57.5M to date.

Following in sixth was the MGM comedy Beauty Shop with $3.7M, down 45%, for a total of $31.2M. The Fox toon Robots eased just 23% to $3.6M and upped its sum to $115.8M.

More comedies followed with Miss Congeniality 2 taking in $3M, off 29%, leaving the Warner Bros. sequel with $41.7M. Sliding just 23% to $2.4M was The Pacifier which has given Disney $103.7M to date. Rounding out the top ten was the Joan Allen-Kevin Costner collaberation The Upside of Anger with $2.1M, down only 17%, for a $15.1M cume.

One new horror film knocked another fright flick out of the top ten over the weekend. The DreamWorks sequel The Ring Two fell 51% in its fifth scare to $1.4M pushing the total to $74.4M. The film should end its run with roughly $77M putting it 40% below the $129.1M of 2002's The Ring.

The top ten films grossed $71.5M which was down 9% from last year when Kill Bill Vol. 2 claimed first place with $25.1M; and down 15% from 2003 when Anger Management remained in the top spot with $25M.


Compared to projections, The Amityville Horror opened a few notches higher than my $20M forecast.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when The Interpreter, A Lot Like Love, and King's Ransom all open and Kung Fu Hustle expands nationally.

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# Title Apr 15 - 17 Apr 8 - 10 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 The Amityville Horror $ 23,507,007 3,323 1 $ 7,074 $ 23,507,007 MGM
2 Sahara 13,071,283 18,068,372 -27.7 3,154 2 4,144 36,417,478 Paramount
3 Fever Pitch 8,518,883 12,400,125 -31.3 3,275 2 2,601 23,662,931 Fox
4 Sin City 6,687,810 14,154,696 -52.8 3,002 3 2,228 61,301,949 Miramax
5 Guess Who 4,875,712 7,018,395 -30.5 2,999 4 1,626 57,548,885 Sony
6 Beauty Shop 3,742,462 6,808,532 -45.0 2,260 3 1,656 31,220,578 MGM
7 Robots 3,606,520 4,652,252 -22.5 2,476 6 1,457 115,761,012 Fox
8 Miss Congeniality 2 2,980,158 4,184,319 -28.8 2,625 4 1,135 41,676,315 Warner Bros.
9 The Pacifier 2,410,620 3,116,340 -22.6 2,068 7 1,166 103,727,286 Buena Vista
10 The Upside of Anger 2,069,066 2,500,503 -17.3 1,166 6 1,774 15,119,417 New Line
11 The Ring Two 1,399,367 2,867,390 -51.2 1,917 5 730 74,396,875 DreamWorks
12 Hitch 1,227,224 1,706,346 -28.1 1,204 10 1,019 175,450,854 Sony
13 Ice Princess 904,508 1,507,317 -40.0 1,138 5 795 22,182,814 Buena Vista
14 State Property 2 756,905 202 1 3,747 1,102,299 Lions Gate
15 Hostage 749,806 1,185,551 -36.8 934 6 803 33,406,625 Miramax
16 Millions 664,748 435,011 52.8 251 6 2,648 2,962,628 Fox Searchlight
17 Million Dollar Baby 628,184 702,019 -10.5 902 18 696 98,708,641 Warner Bros.
18 Melinda and Melinda 407,254 520,502 -21.8 302 5 1,349 3,036,583 Fox Searchlight
19 Downfall 327,930 371,125 -11.6 174 9 1,885 4,159,168 Newmarket
20 Be Cool 292,979 354,211 -17.3 421 7 696 55,590,667 MGM
Top 5 $ 56,660,695 $ 58,450,120 -3.1
Top 10 71,469,521 75,770,924 -5.7
Top 20 78,828,426 83,089,836 -5.1
Top 20 vs. 2004 78,828,426 98,764,099 -20.2

Last Updated : April 19, 2005 at 5:30AM EDT