September 30 - October 2, 2005
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | Flightplan |
| $15,038,000 - Total: $46,145,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 3424 |
| 2. | Serenity * |
| $10,141,000 - Total: $10,141,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2188 |
| 3. | Tim Burton's Corpse Bride |
| $9,755,000 - Total: $32,910,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 3 THTRS: 3204 |
| 4. | A History of Violence |
| $8,200,000 - Total: $8,969,000 | |
| LW: 18 WR: 2 THTRS: 1340 |
| 5. | Into the Blue * |
| $7,000,000 - Total: $7,000,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2789 |
| 6. | Just Like Heaven |
| $6,100,000 - Total: $38,396,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 3 THTRS: 3543 |
| 7. | The Exorcism of Emily Rose |
| $4,400,000 - Total: $68,522,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 4 THTRS: 3004 |
| 8. | Roll Bounce |
| $4,025,000 - Total: $12,673,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 2 THTRS: 1661 |
| 9. | The Greatest Game Ever Played * |
| $3,749,000 - Total: $3,749,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 1014 |
| 10. | The 40-Year-Old Virgin |
| $3,110,000 - Total: $101,396,000 | |
| LW: 7 WR: 7 THTRS: 2152 |
Things were sadly serene at the box office this weekend as Flightplan held on tight to number one with everything else limping into scattered spots across the board. Here's the rundown of everything that should have done a lot better, but didn't.
The biggest loser in wide release was The Greatest Game Ever Played, coming in with less than $4 million on its first weekend out. Despite getting moderately adoring praise from critics it just didn't have the ability to compete with the other big players that came out swinging, and so ended up double bogied at number 9. It gets a slightly wider release next week, which will add some oomph to its score card, but don't expect it to hang around the top ten very long.
Next up was the all beauty but no brains undersea adventure/thriller flick Into the Blue. Paul Walker and Jessica Alba in thong swimwear wasn't promise enough for theater goes who wanted something with a little more substance. It dove into 5th place with the potential to sink a lot further a lot faster in the future.
The big surprise was A History of Violence which enjoys everything a major release could hope for: big name stars, glowing reviews from critics everywhere and a hugely successful opening in limited release last weekend. What happened? Hard to say, but its probably the same thing that's been haunting the box office all year, leaving studios scratching their heads and high dollar films saying major prayers to the DVD gods for recovered budgets in home video revenues. Even with a wide release in over 1300 theaters, Violence could only scrape together about $8 million and the number 4 spot.
An only slightly smaller surprise was Serenity coming in at a miserable $10 million. It's been advertised like crazy in every form of media conceivable and critics loved it. Around the Cinema Blend forums numbers like $35 million and $40 million were being predicted. I called it at $17 million thinking I was going to be a little low. How wrong we all were. Personally I blame it on every single Serenity ad starting with "From the creator of Buffy and Angel." That's a limited market there, despite the very loud, very angry voices of the Whedon fans everywhere. With major releases like Pacino's Two For The Money and an extremely wide release of the much touted Wallace and Gromit coming out next week, it's unlikely Serenity will ever see number one, something many folks would suggest it deserves.
Movies in small release this weekend included the biopic Capote which did very well and Henson Studios art job MirrorMask, which didn't. Both will eventually open wider. Only expect one to make the top ten.
