Box Office Wrapup: Shrek Inherits Box Office Crown
Movie fans came out in droves this weekend to see their favorite green ogre's newest adventure as "Shrek the Third" easily captured the box office crown and broke the record for the biggest opening ever for an animated film.
That sent the super hero saga "Spider-Man 3" down to the runnerup spot but the overall marketplace once again beat last year's levels for the third straight weekend giving the summer movie season an explosive start.
Executives at DreamWorks Animation and Paramount were drinking green champagne this weekend thanks to "Shrek the Third" which debuted to an astounding $122M, according to estimates, over the Friday-to-Sunday period and $122.9M since its early launch at 10pm on Thursday night in about 1,000 theaters. Invading 4,122 total locations, the PG-rated toon averaged a stunning $29,597 per cinema and surpassed the $108M bow of 2004's "Shrek 2" which previously held the record for the biggest animated opening. That film, which was the first in history to break the 4,000-theater threshold, debuted on a Wednesday and captured $129M over its five-day premiere period. The next biggest toon opening is $70.5M for the 2004 Disney/Pixar vehicle "The Incredibles" which just shows how different the league that the "Shrek" franchise lives in is.
"Third" also set new opening weekend records for both DreamWorks and Paramount beating "Shrek 2" and "War of the Worlds" ($64.9M), respectively. The ogre sequel also generated the third best opening of all-time trailing only "Spider-Man 3"'s $151.1M from earlier this month and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's" $135.6M from last July. That ranking should slip another spot next weekend after the new "Pirates" film sets sail.
The new ogre sequel grossed $907,000 on Thursday from night-before showings beginning at 10pm, hauled in $38.5M on Friday (its true opening day), surged 22% to $47M on Saturday, and is estimated to dip 22% on Sunday to $36.5M. "Shrek 2," which opened on the same exact weekend three years ago, also suffered a 22% Saturday-to-Sunday dip in its debut frame. The production budget on the new installment is estimated to be $160-170M.
Reuniting the voice talents of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas, "Shrek the Third" adds some new characters including a teen would-be king voiced by Justin Timberlake. The slender 92-minute film was not very well-liked by critics and earned the worst reviews for the franchise just as "Spider-Man 3" did a couple of weeks ago. However, moviegoers again disregarded the critics and came out for some early summer fun dropping some mighty big bags of cash at multiplexes nationwide. "Shrek" dominated the attention of ticket buyers and accounted for about 70% of all sales for the Top 20.
Studio research showed that Fiona's hubby appealed to all audience segments becoming a true four-quadrant pic. Females made up 51% of the crowd and those over and under the age of 25 were evenly split. Teens, young adults, and families all came out in strong numbers. Those polled by CinemaScore gave the toon a B+ grade which is decent, but not spectacular. A fourth chapter of "Shrek" is already in development for a planned 2010 release.
Dropping 51% in its third weekend was two-time box office champ "Spider-Man 3" with an estimated $28.5M. Sony's webslinger sequel flew to $281.9M (including Imax grosses) from North America and averaged $6,591 from a record high 4,324 theaters. After 17 days, the Venom pic shot up to number 28 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters just ahead of "The Matrix Reloaded" which grossed $281.5M in 2003. Given its rate of erosion and upcoming competition from Captain Jack, the third webcrawler still looks on a course to conclude its domestic run with $340-350M.
"Spider-Man 3" continues to rank number one in most international territories and grossed $49.6M overseas this weekend pushing its offshore cume to a scorching $465M and the global gross to a towering $747M. The latest Peter Parker tale has now become the top-grossing "Spidey" film overseas surpassing the $418M for the first film in 2002 and the $410M of "Spider-Man 2" in 2004. The third chapter has really taken off internationally as overseas box office accounts for 62% of the global tally. The first two super hero installments saw about 52% of their worldwide groesses come from outside of North America.
Fox's horror sequel "28 Weeks Later" dropped one spot to third place with an estimated $5.2M bringing the ten-day total to $18.6M. The well-reviewed virus thriller declined by 48% which is impressive for a fright flick. Still, "Weeks" looks to finish with about $30-32M or about one-third less than the $45.1M of 2003's "28 Days Later."
Only scraps were left for the other films playing at multiplexes as the rest of the movies in the top ten attracted weekend ticket sales of less than $4M each. Three-time chart-topper "Disturbia" took in an estimated $3.7M, off only 22%, for a $71.3M cume for Paramount. The sleeper hit should find its way to around $80M.
Universal's Jane Fonda-Lindsay Lohan pic "Georgia Rule" dropped 48% to an estimated $3.5M in its second weekend pushing its ten-day total to a weak $12.6M. Look for a disappointing $20-22M final for the R-rated film which few have been showing interest in. New Line's "Fracture" dipped just 17% to an estimated $2.5M putting the sum at $34.7M. A final tally of roughly $40M should result.
The Lionsgate comedy "Delta Farce" followed its dismal bow with a troubling 46% fall to an estimated $1.8M this weekend for a miniscule total of $6.1M in ten days. It will try to limp to a $10M overall gross. Following in eighth place was Buena Vista's "The Invisible" with an estimated $1.3M, down 44%, putting the cume at $17.7M. The supernatural thriller will probably end up with about $21M. British import "Hot Fuzz" continued to have good legs dipping only 27% to an estimated $1.3M pushing the total to $21.1M. Focus will try to get to $25M.
Two very different films tied for tenth place with estimates of $1.1M a piece. Fox Searchlight enjoyed continued success with the expansion of the Keri Russell starrer "Waitress" which widened from 65 to 116 theaters for a solid $9,784 average serving up moviegoers in the top ten for the first time. That doubled the comedy's cume to $2.2M. This Friday, "Waitress" will expand again to most markets across the country reaching over 500 theaters playing as an indie alternative to the mindless popcorn films of early summer. Paramount's big-budget action flop "Next" fell 35% giving the Nicolas Cage actioner an embarrassing $16.6M to date. A $19M final seems likely.
Tumbling out of the top ten this weekend was Disney's animated comedy "Meet the Robinsons" which fell a steep 71% thanks to the ogre's arrival to an estimated $521,000. The G-rated toon has grossed $95.3M after its eighth weekend and may be headed for a $97M finish.
Meanwhile in just two theaters, Fox Searchlight saw a powerful debut for its musical romance "Once" which grossed an estimated $60,511 for a sizzling $30,256 per site. Showered with praise from critics, the R-rated film premieres in eleven new cities on Friday.
Yari Film Group had a mild debut for its ensemble drama "Even Money" which bowed to an estimated $26,013 from six playdates for a not-so-impressive $4,336 average.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $170.8M which was up 12% from last year when "The Da Vinci Code" opened at number one with $77.1M; and up 10% from 2005 when "Star Wars Episode III" debuted on top with $108.4M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
That sent the super hero saga "Spider-Man 3" down to the runnerup spot but the overall marketplace once again beat last year's levels for the third straight weekend giving the summer movie season an explosive start.
Executives at DreamWorks Animation and Paramount were drinking green champagne this weekend thanks to "Shrek the Third" which debuted to an astounding $122M, according to estimates, over the Friday-to-Sunday period and $122.9M since its early launch at 10pm on Thursday night in about 1,000 theaters. Invading 4,122 total locations, the PG-rated toon averaged a stunning $29,597 per cinema and surpassed the $108M bow of 2004's "Shrek 2" which previously held the record for the biggest animated opening. That film, which was the first in history to break the 4,000-theater threshold, debuted on a Wednesday and captured $129M over its five-day premiere period. The next biggest toon opening is $70.5M for the 2004 Disney/Pixar vehicle "The Incredibles" which just shows how different the league that the "Shrek" franchise lives in is.
"Third" also set new opening weekend records for both DreamWorks and Paramount beating "Shrek 2" and "War of the Worlds" ($64.9M), respectively. The ogre sequel also generated the third best opening of all-time trailing only "Spider-Man 3"'s $151.1M from earlier this month and "Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest's" $135.6M from last July. That ranking should slip another spot next weekend after the new "Pirates" film sets sail.
The new ogre sequel grossed $907,000 on Thursday from night-before showings beginning at 10pm, hauled in $38.5M on Friday (its true opening day), surged 22% to $47M on Saturday, and is estimated to dip 22% on Sunday to $36.5M. "Shrek 2," which opened on the same exact weekend three years ago, also suffered a 22% Saturday-to-Sunday dip in its debut frame. The production budget on the new installment is estimated to be $160-170M.
Reuniting the voice talents of Mike Myers, Eddie Murphy, Cameron Diaz, and Antonio Banderas, "Shrek the Third" adds some new characters including a teen would-be king voiced by Justin Timberlake. The slender 92-minute film was not very well-liked by critics and earned the worst reviews for the franchise just as "Spider-Man 3" did a couple of weeks ago. However, moviegoers again disregarded the critics and came out for some early summer fun dropping some mighty big bags of cash at multiplexes nationwide. "Shrek" dominated the attention of ticket buyers and accounted for about 70% of all sales for the Top 20.
Studio research showed that Fiona's hubby appealed to all audience segments becoming a true four-quadrant pic. Females made up 51% of the crowd and those over and under the age of 25 were evenly split. Teens, young adults, and families all came out in strong numbers. Those polled by CinemaScore gave the toon a B+ grade which is decent, but not spectacular. A fourth chapter of "Shrek" is already in development for a planned 2010 release.
Dropping 51% in its third weekend was two-time box office champ "Spider-Man 3" with an estimated $28.5M. Sony's webslinger sequel flew to $281.9M (including Imax grosses) from North America and averaged $6,591 from a record high 4,324 theaters. After 17 days, the Venom pic shot up to number 28 on the list of all-time domestic blockbusters just ahead of "The Matrix Reloaded" which grossed $281.5M in 2003. Given its rate of erosion and upcoming competition from Captain Jack, the third webcrawler still looks on a course to conclude its domestic run with $340-350M.
"Spider-Man 3" continues to rank number one in most international territories and grossed $49.6M overseas this weekend pushing its offshore cume to a scorching $465M and the global gross to a towering $747M. The latest Peter Parker tale has now become the top-grossing "Spidey" film overseas surpassing the $418M for the first film in 2002 and the $410M of "Spider-Man 2" in 2004. The third chapter has really taken off internationally as overseas box office accounts for 62% of the global tally. The first two super hero installments saw about 52% of their worldwide groesses come from outside of North America.
Fox's horror sequel "28 Weeks Later" dropped one spot to third place with an estimated $5.2M bringing the ten-day total to $18.6M. The well-reviewed virus thriller declined by 48% which is impressive for a fright flick. Still, "Weeks" looks to finish with about $30-32M or about one-third less than the $45.1M of 2003's "28 Days Later."
Only scraps were left for the other films playing at multiplexes as the rest of the movies in the top ten attracted weekend ticket sales of less than $4M each. Three-time chart-topper "Disturbia" took in an estimated $3.7M, off only 22%, for a $71.3M cume for Paramount. The sleeper hit should find its way to around $80M.
Universal's Jane Fonda-Lindsay Lohan pic "Georgia Rule" dropped 48% to an estimated $3.5M in its second weekend pushing its ten-day total to a weak $12.6M. Look for a disappointing $20-22M final for the R-rated film which few have been showing interest in. New Line's "Fracture" dipped just 17% to an estimated $2.5M putting the sum at $34.7M. A final tally of roughly $40M should result.
The Lionsgate comedy "Delta Farce" followed its dismal bow with a troubling 46% fall to an estimated $1.8M this weekend for a miniscule total of $6.1M in ten days. It will try to limp to a $10M overall gross. Following in eighth place was Buena Vista's "The Invisible" with an estimated $1.3M, down 44%, putting the cume at $17.7M. The supernatural thriller will probably end up with about $21M. British import "Hot Fuzz" continued to have good legs dipping only 27% to an estimated $1.3M pushing the total to $21.1M. Focus will try to get to $25M.
Two very different films tied for tenth place with estimates of $1.1M a piece. Fox Searchlight enjoyed continued success with the expansion of the Keri Russell starrer "Waitress" which widened from 65 to 116 theaters for a solid $9,784 average serving up moviegoers in the top ten for the first time. That doubled the comedy's cume to $2.2M. This Friday, "Waitress" will expand again to most markets across the country reaching over 500 theaters playing as an indie alternative to the mindless popcorn films of early summer. Paramount's big-budget action flop "Next" fell 35% giving the Nicolas Cage actioner an embarrassing $16.6M to date. A $19M final seems likely.
Tumbling out of the top ten this weekend was Disney's animated comedy "Meet the Robinsons" which fell a steep 71% thanks to the ogre's arrival to an estimated $521,000. The G-rated toon has grossed $95.3M after its eighth weekend and may be headed for a $97M finish.
Meanwhile in just two theaters, Fox Searchlight saw a powerful debut for its musical romance "Once" which grossed an estimated $60,511 for a sizzling $30,256 per site. Showered with praise from critics, the R-rated film premieres in eleven new cities on Friday.
Yari Film Group had a mild debut for its ensemble drama "Even Money" which bowed to an estimated $26,013 from six playdates for a not-so-impressive $4,336 average.
The top ten films grossed an estimated $170.8M which was up 12% from last year when "The Da Vinci Code" opened at number one with $77.1M; and up 10% from 2005 when "Star Wars Episode III" debuted on top with $108.4M.
Author: Gitesh Pandya, www.BoxOfficeGuru.com
Related Items
| Movie: | Next |
| 28 Weeks Later | |
| Disturbia | |
| Georgia Rule | |
| Delta Farce | |
| The Invisible | |
| Hot Fuzz | |
| Shrek the Third | |
| Waitress |
(1-14 of 14 posts) | Reply
on May 20 2007 09:34 PM *Yawn* No surprise. Seriously. (Reply to this) |
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on May 20 2007 09:42 PM It really is sad when 122 million for a movie doesn't seem like that big of a deal. A few years ago numbers like that would have astounded people. And the movie industry is scared of losing money from pirating....HAH! (Reply to this) |
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on May 20 2007 09:44 PM Has anyone or RT posted this ht (Reply to this) |
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on May 20 2007 10:24 PM In reply to this comment (#866056) Is it for real? Or some youtube-type creation? (Reply to this) |
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on May 20 2007 10:58 PM In reply to this comment (#866056) Something tells me that it's not for real. But, one must be allowed to dream, right?... And is it just me, or was that pretty f**ked up? Sweet Chirst, I wish I looked at that link not at midnight... (Reply to this) |
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on May 21 2007 06:42 AM It's a real link. But as for the boxoffice, I personally would expect a major drop second weekend for Shrek 3. Not only is Pirates coming out, but word of mouth is worse for this film than for Spidey 3. I'd say a 70% drop is likely. If not more. But I like guessing that stuff. The stuidos are interesting to me. They'd rather get a massive opening then a smaller opening while creating this 'must see' buzz. I'd think they'd rather have that, since it would give a picture more legs, theoretically (Reply to this) |
on May 21 2007 08:29 AM Shrek 3 was pretty good if you like Shrek, the worst of the three though, it was basicly the better Shrek version of Happily N'ever After which I had watched two days before, so that kinda sucked that I watched them so close together. Delta Farce was horrible. (Reply to this) |
on May 21 2007 10:49 AM Well, looks like people do want to see Once. (Reply to this) |
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on May 21 2007 12:51 PM Hot Fuzz > Shrek 3 > Spiderman 3. 'Nuff said. Man I hope Pirates is good. (Reply to this) |
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on May 21 2007 03:28 PM Shrek 3 could have been so much better. before we started seeing trailers and just got plot details and voice acting lists, i though it was going to be excellent. then as we started to see more of it i realized that this isn't gonna end well, and i was right. i just hate the fact that good movies are ignored and shitty ones make $150 million in the first weekend. (Reply to this) |
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on May 21 2007 10:08 PM [b]to puablo[/b] i hope pirates is good as well.........thats the first movie im really lookin forward to seein this summer......... (Reply to this) |
on May 22 2007 08:16 AM [b]HERE IT BEGINS.[/b] LAUGH OUT LOUD, because here it is where it all begins. I really liked Spidey 3, and feel that it is only very slightly less-good than Spidey 2, but a great Spidey-film, and a great fantastic closure to Sam Raimi's orignal Spidey-trilogy (I hear a new trilogy is planned...) By the end of the summer, All the narcisistic idiots who were BASHING Spiderman 3, will have no option but to admit that SPIDERMAN 3 WAS THE BEST SUMMER FLICK OF 2007. This will undoubtable happen, as "Shrek three" is already showing!! When "Pirates of the Caribbean 3" will SUCK worse than POTC2... (it already shows all the tendancies of being overcrowded and more confused, and CGI laden than number two...) and Harry Potter will show Harry is TOO OLD to excite or move audiences any more... (still compared to the BAD POTC3, Harry might get a few good reviews...) "Transformers", I still believe is the ONLY Summer film of 2007 which is going to be as good (or maybe even better) than Spidey 3. John Mclane is also (always) lovable, and I hope that "Die Hard 4.0" is great and entertaining. But only TRANSFORMERS and DIE HARD 4, are going to be as good and entertaining as Spidey 3. All the other sequels are going to be ULTRA CRAP. But remember this: ALL the unimaginative, lazy, naysaying Spiderman 3 bashers will confess--- after watching the other summer-flicks (they were so sure would be great) out there-- that SPIDERMAN 3--- was indeed the BEST in the BUNCH. Me myself, am going to buy Spidey3 DVD first-in-line when it comes out. Naysayers can go right ahead a bury thier pessimistic heads in the sand. (Reply to this) |
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on May 22 2007 01:17 PM In reply to this comment (#866065) i agree with you about everything you said. by the end of all this, spidey 3 will be the best of the bunch, dissapointment or not. peter travers from rolling stone said it best when he said some thing along the lines of: although it may have been flawed at the end of the summer people will realize that it was the only blockbuster made with human hands and passion. i have been hearing pirates 3 is absolutely terrible. we shall see friday. spider-man 3 was not terrible, just too sappy for a lot of the male audience. end of story. (Reply to this) |
on May 22 2007 02:22 PM Yeah, I've been saying ^that all along. You may think Spider-Man 3 was a letdown to the franchise, but with these terrible summer blockbusters coming out weekly, it's easily still going to be the best summer movie this summer. Shrek 3 was decent. As an independent film I'd have liked it a lot more, but since the last two were excellent, I did feel keenly let down by this one. Too much in it and no focus on any particular character. Could've used a lot more time or a lot less stuffing. Pirates 3 will be absolutely horrendous because it will be guilty of the same thing Shrek 3 is now: overstuffing and undercharacterization. And sorry-looking CGI, but at least Shrek 3 was decent at that. (Reply to this) |
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