May 12 - 14, 2006
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | Mission: Impossible III |
| $24,514,000 - Total: $84,635,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 4059 |
| 2. | Poseidon * |
| $20,325,000 - Total: $20,325,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 3555 |
| 3. | RV |
| $9,500,000 - Total: $42,821,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 3 THTRS: 3536 |
| 4. | Just My Luck * |
| $5,500,000 - Total: $5,500,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2541 |
| 5. | An American Haunting |
| $3,689,000 - Total: $10,938,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 2 THTRS: 1703 |
| 6. | United 93 |
| $3,583,000 - Total: $25,630,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 3 THTRS: 1871 |
| 7. | Stick It |
| $3,239,000 - Total: $22,218,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 3 THTRS: 2009 |
| 8. | Ice Age: The Meltdown |
| $2,975,000 - Total: $187,395,000 | |
| LW: 6 WR: 7 THTRS: 1879 |
| 9. | Silent Hill |
| $2,200,000 - Total: $44,507,000 | |
| LW: 7 WR: 4 THTRS: 1888 |
| 10. | Hoot |
| $2,125,000 - Total: $6,213,000 | |
| LW: 10 WR: 2 THTRS: 3018 |
If Mission:Impossible III's miserable performance last weekend didn't scare the pants off of big budget Hollywood executives then this weekend should have them running for mommy.
The special effects laden Poseidon, whose massive $160 million budget was larger than M:I III's, only turned up an abysmal $20 million. Granted, the film's story of desperate survival lacks something in the human interest department, but its incredible action and effects should have been enough to dethrone Tom Cruise. I'm most disgusted by the fact that Scary Movie 4 made twice as much as Poseidon on its opening weekend. America is telling executives what they want with the way they spend their movie dollars and the message being sent is both depressing and terrifying.
Mission:Impossible wasn't the only undefeatable this weekend. Lindsay Lohan's romantic comedy Just My Luck couldn't nose out family comedy RV. Luck opened squarely in fourth place with $5.5 million while RV, in its third week, garnered nearly double at $9.5 million.
Much to my disappointment but not to my surprise, Goal! The Dream Begins (which was the best reviewed film opening this weekend) didn't even earn enough to make the top ten. In little more than 1000 theaters, the sports drama only pulled in $2 million. Of course, that's just icing on the cake as far as the film is concerned. Its success abroad has made it popular enough in the eyes of executives to be worth a trilogy.
Next weekend will be fraught with fright, laughs and controversy, that much is for certain. What's uncertain is how much any of next week's films can expect to make in the face of the unexpectedly miserable box office turn outs of the last few weeks. The controversial thriller DaVinci Code will be the big dog, followed closely by DreamWorks highly anticipated Over the Hedge. Horror film See No Evil will open on 1000 or so screens, but despite the fact that it's a fright flick, there's no word yet if it's as scary as Tom Hank's hair.
