December 16 - 18, 2005
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | King Kong * |
| $50,148,000 - Total: $66,200,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 3568 |
| 2. | The Chronicles of Narnia:The Lion, The Witch andThe Wardrobe |
| $31,184,000 - Total: $112,516,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 3680 |
| 3. | The Family Stone * |
| $12,725,000 - Total: $12,725,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2466 |
| 4. | Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire |
| $5,905,000 - Total: $252,551,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 5 THTRS: 3185 |
| 5. | Syriana |
| $5,465,000 - Total: $22,322,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 4 THTRS: 1775 |
| 6. | Walk the Line |
| $3,625,000 - Total: $82,544,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 5 THTRS: 2664 |
| 7. | Yours, Mine and Ours |
| $3,415,000 - Total: $45,107,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 4 THTRS: 2723 |
| 8. | Brokeback Mountain |
| $2,359,000 - Total: $3,325,000 | |
| LW: 15 WR: 2 THTRS: 69 |
| 9. | Just Friends |
| $1,950,000 - Total: $29,441,000 | |
| LW: 7 WR: 4 THTRS: 1882 |
| 10. | Aeon Flux |
| $1,675,000 - Total: $23,139,000 | |
| LW: 6 WR: 3 THTRS: 2058 |
King Kong, this year's last potentially big blockbuster failed to deliver, coming in with a significant yet disappointing $50 million this weekend. Opening on Wednesday, it managed around $67 million over the five days and took the number one spot, but even the most conservative predictions were left lacking when the final weekend numbers rolled in.
The movie boasts a Kong-worthy $207 million budget, a sum that only post-Lord of the Rings Peter Jackson could have demanded for a remake of an already heavily remade movie. From the looks of things PJ won't be left high and dry as the movie made around $80 million in foreign box office sales. He stands a chance to recover the budget and marketing expenses once DVD sales for the movie roll in next year, but don't look for Kong to be the cash cow producers might have hoped for. Sure, Peter Jackson has made some great movies, but his name doesn't yet have the pull of Spielberg whose own classic remake is the number 3 movie this year.
The other new release this weekend, The Family Stone, made a fair showing in the shadows of Kong and Aslan. Opening to mixed reviews is still managed $12 million. Thankgiving weekend favorites Harry Potter and Walk the Line are hanging in there. They've made it quite a ways, right up to Christmas. It will be interesting to see how they hold up against next weekend's numerous competition entries.
Brokeback Mountain made an entrance in the top ten this weekend. Showing in an interesting number of theaters (meaning, of course, that it's showing on very few screens) it's managed a hefty turn out and garnered the number 8 spot. At this point it isn't scheduled for a wide release. Instead Focus Features has chosen to up the number just a little each week as though trying to innoculate the nation against the film's broadening controversy. It's scheduled to appear in 120, 250 and 475 theaters over the next three weeks respectively. Even with it's success this weekend, expect it to disappear next week in the shadow of a massive holiday weekend onslaught.
Hollywood is banking on America's funny bone needing some tickling over the Christmas weekend with five films lined up to role out, four of them comedies. It's a smorgasboard of comedy really: Fun with Dick and Jane(crime comedy), Cheaper by the Dozen 2 (family comedy), The Ringer (Special Olympics comedy), Rumor Has It (romantic comedy). The other movie, Wolf Creek, promises to be one of the scarier horror films put out this year. Who would release a horror movie on Christmas day I don't know, but here's hoping they're not expecting much.
