September 9 - 11, 2005
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | The Prestige * |
| $14,818,000 - Total: $14,818,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2281 |
| 2. | The Departed |
| $13,675,000 - Total: $77,148,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 3 THTRS: 3005 |
| 3. | Flags of Our Fathers * |
| $10,200,000 - Total: $10,200,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 1876 |
| 4. | Open Season |
| $8,000,000 - Total: $69,602,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 4 THTRS: 3379 |
| 5. | Flicka * |
| $7,700,000 - Total: $7,700,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2877 |
| 6. | The Grudge 2 |
| $7,700,000 - Total: $31,380,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 3214 |
| 7. | Man of the Year |
| $7,035,000 - Total: $22,516,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 2 THTRS: 2522 |
| 8. | Marie Antoinette * |
| $5,300,000 - Total: $5,300,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 859 |
| 9. | Texas Chainsaw Massacre:The Beginning |
| $3,845,000 - Total: $35,954,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 3 THTRS: 2569 |
| 10. | The Marine |
| $3,725,000 - Total: $12,547,000 | |
| LW: 6 WR: 2 THTRS: 2545 |
There wasn't much magic at the box office this weekend for the star-clad illusion flick The Prestige. Even though it took top honors, it only sold seats to the tune of $14.8 million. That's not bad for a movie with a fairly minimal $40 million budget. In fact, it's great news compared to the financial travesty that was Clint Eastwood's Flag of our Fathers.
The WWII Oscar-monger flick boasts a hefty $90 million budget, a sum too tall for what the movie earned this weekend. At third place it only took in $10.2 million. This is the largest budget Eastwood has worked with as a director and may be the first time one of his films failed to break the redline. No matter. With its critical acclaim and Oscar-popular subject matter, it's bound to get plenty of attention at awards time.
Family drama Flicka took fifth place right above The Grudge 2 which plummeted from the number one spot last week. Marie Antoinette, which opened limited in 860 theaters, performed well per screen but only managed the number eight spot with $5.3 million.
Tim Burton's The Nightmare Before Christmas in 3-D had a happy reprise this weekend, hauling in $19,535 per screen for a total of $3.2 million. No word on how much Disney sunk into the re-release and high gloss 3D transformation, so who knows how profitable this will be for the studios. However, the fans are winning one way or the other with a beautiful revisit to one of claymations most enchanting films.
Next weekend's Halloween holiday will be a dreary one. The horror hit "Saw" franchise releases its third film, goring audiences, if not boring them. In a much smaller release Tim Robbins' Catch A Fire will try to compete. Running With Scissors will expand its release to 600 screens as well, likely not enough to even make the top ten. Expect The third Saw to take the top.
