July 14 - 16, 2006
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest |
| $62,186,000 - Total: $258,205,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 4133 |
| 2. | Little Man * |
| $21,700,000 - Total: $21,700,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2533 |
| 3. | You, Me and Dupree * |
| $21,338,000 - Total: $21,338,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 3131 |
| 4. | Superman Returns |
| $11,620,000 - Total: $163,648,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 3 THTRS: 3765 |
| 5. | The Devil Wears Prada |
| $10,450,000 - Total: $83,554,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 3 THTRS: 2810 |
| 6. | Cars |
| $7,536,000 - Total: $219,697,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 6 THTRS: 3003 |
| 7. | Click |
| $7,000,000 - Total: $119,702,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 4 THTRS: 3296 |
| 8. | The Lake House |
| $1,570,000 - Total: $48,901,000 | |
| LW: 7 WR: 5 THTRS: 1710 |
| 9. | Nacho Libre |
| $1,523,000 - Total: $77,140,000 | |
| LW: 6 WR: 5 THTRS: 1501 |
| 10. | A Scanner Darkly |
| $1,185,000 - Total: $1,787,000 | |
| LW: 19 WR: 2 THTRS: 216 |
There was no stopping the powerhouse pirates this weekend. Returning for a second helping of their box office booty, the crews of the Black Pearl and the Flying Dutchman hoisted off a hefty $62 million while holding a commanding first place position in the top ten. Dead Man's Chest soared past the $200 million mark in domestic sales on Friday and wrapped up the weekend with a grand total of $258 million making it the highest grossing movie of the year to date. X-Men: The Last Stand, the previous high seller, is peaking out around $240 million.
The newcomers this weekend trailed in at distant second and third places. Little Man and You, Me and Dupree proved yet again that America will shell out money to see a movie no matter how dumb it is so long as the Wayans brothers or Wilson brothers are involved. Neither film is much to get excited about comedically, but both cleared $20 million, pushing Superman Returns and The Devil Wears Prada even lower down the totem pole.
There was an excruciatingly narrown margin of $350,000 between Dupree and Little Man. In a presidential election it would be declared too close to call. Here's hoping that when the final numbers replace the estimates, the slightly more intelligent Dupree will have overcome Little Man's pre-adolescent tedium in the cash department.
Superman Returns continues to struggle to find enough of an audience to be financially successful. Despite an ongoing marketing campaign touting its critical acclaim, the movie dropped nearly 50%. That's about an average drop from one weekend to the next, but a little embarrassing in the light of Prada only dropping 30%. Superman has only earned around $160 million domestically in its first couple of weeks. Toss in $40 million from foreign sales to bring it up to $200 million and its still painfully shy of getting itself into the black.
A Scanner Darkly expanded from 17 to 200 theaters this weekend, pulling in just enough to beat out An Inconventient Truth for the number ten spot. That's a good showing for a film in such limited release, but not spectacular. At present Warner Independent only plans a moderate additional expansion at the end of July. Scanner needs to perform a little better than it has to get any further expansion beyond that. Execs are no doubt praying for good word of mouth leading into next weekend.
Speaking of next weekend, the giants of summer have come and made their mark and its time for the smaller players to start rolling out again. Shyamalan fans and detractors will have plenty to discuss with Lady in the Water making its debut. The quirky animated film Monster House will also bow in. Luke Wilson will pit his new movie My Super Ex-Girlfriend against his brother Owen's Dupree. As well, Jay and Silent Bob will step in with Clerks II to give the Wayan's Brothers a run for their money.
Pirates will still be going fairly strong next weekend, but won't be able to hold onto the number one spot for a third week. Despite Shyamalan's decline in popularity following the poorly received The Village. he's still solidly bankable with both of his last two movies opening above $50 million. Look for him to snag number one.
