February 17-19, 2006
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | Eight Below * |
| $19,850,000 - Total: $19,850,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 3066 |
| 2. | Date Movie * |
| $19,000,000 - Total: $19,000,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2896 |
| 3. | The Pink Panther |
| $16,800,000 - Total: $42,485,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 3477 |
| 4. | Curious George |
| $11,625,000 - Total: $29,780,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 2 THTRS: 2572 |
| 5. | Final Destination 3 |
| $10,400,000 - Total: $36,115,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 2 THTRS: 2880 |
| 6. | Firewall |
| $8,920,000 - Total: $27,240,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 2 THTRS: 2840 |
| 7. | Freedomland * |
| $6,000,000 - Total: $6,000,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2361 |
| 8. | When a Stranger Calls |
| $5,000,000 - Total: $41,278,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 3 THTRS: 2629 |
| 9. | Big Momma's House 2 |
| $4,650,000 - Total: $61,536,000 | |
| LW: 6 WR: 4 THTRS: 2039 |
| 10. | Nanny McPhee |
| $3,811,000 - Total: $37,960,000 | |
| LW: 7 WR: 4 THTRS: 2001 |
When is a three day weekend not a three day weekend? When the editor says so. Maybe he's just bitter that most of us in the working world don't get the holiday off to celebrate those fine men who did so much in leading our country. Those who did get the holiday certainly didn't use it as an excuse to spend any extra time at the theater during the weekend. Yet, despite another round of less than impressive new films being released, the box office saw a fair turn out.
I'd wager to say that this weekend sports one of the worst line-ups we're likely to see this year and the new releases didn't help the average. Nevertheless the top two films, Paul Walker's Eight Below and the inexcusably awful Date Movie each made nearly $20 million. With a simple budget of around $20 million Date Movie will easily make back all its expenses with enough left over to fund another three movies. No doubt we'll see them rolling along sometime in the not too distant future.
While it's nice to know that American didn't see fit to award Date Movie the number one spot, we'll still have to spend the next week putting up with TV ads touting it as the number one comedy. It's depressing that the only movie that could have prevented it was Steve Martin's remake of The Pink Panther. Freedomland debuted as well this weekend, but to far less fanfare. A misguiding marketing strategy and well deserved thrashing at the hands of critics left it floundering in the number seven slot with a meager $6 million.
Brokeback Mountain quietly descended out of the top ten this weekend, passing the focus from it's long standing run on the chart to the gluttonous portion of awards it's been receiving. Some movies gain a resurge of popularity after winning the kind of Oscar counts that Brokeback is likely to garner. That's unlikely for a film like this that has clearly run its course.
Next week is chock full of bizarre releases. Tyler Perry returns with yet another of his Madea films. If you're really interested in seeing it, save yourself the cash and go rent it. A version has been on DVD for years and this cinematic release is gratuitous at best. The Weinstein Company, hot on the heels of Hoodwinked, is releasing yet another CG animated film, Doogal. The quality seems step up from Hoodwinked but still a far cry from industry standards. Lastly, Paul Walker gets yet another release with Running Scared. An ironic title, given that's what I would expect people to be doing upon hearing that two Paul Walker movies were being released on simultaneous weekends.
