Surprising industry watchers once again, Disney's
The Game Plan held onto the
number one spot for a second time grossing an estimated $16.3M for a slim 29%
decline. That gave
The Rock's first entry into the world of kid's movies a solid
$42.8M in only ten days allowing the PG-rated comedy to already surpass the
total
grosses of his last two films
Gridiron Gang ($38.4M) and
Doom ($28M). All three pics were number one openers. Last weekend, many expected
Game Plan to
debut in second place behind
The Kingdom while this weekend
Heartbreak was
widely seen as debuting on top. In both cases the quarterback daddy flick
swiped the top spot and with little family competition in the weeks ahead, a
trip to the $100M club could be in the works.
Disney is still benefiting from the fall season's shocking lack of product for
families. For the third consecutive weekend, seven of the top ten films carried
R ratings
giving parents few other options for their children. The studio has virtually no
foes to deal with until
Jerry Seinfeld's animated pic
Bee Movie hits theaters on
November 2. Game Plan's second weekend drop was even smaller than the 40%
decline that the studio's
Vin Diesel family film
The Pacifier experienced in
March 2005 on its way to a stunning $113.1M tally. The Game Plan now looks
certain to surpass the $90.5M of 2002's The
Scorpion King to become The
Rock's highest grossing film in a lead role.
The weekend's big disappointment came from the Ben Stiller-Farrelly brothers
collaboration
The Heartbreak Kid which debuted in second place with an
estimated $14M from 3,229 theaters. Averaging a mediocre $4,345 per site, the
R-rated film marked the first reteaming of the actor with the filmmakers since
the
1998 sleeper smash
There's Something About Mary which grossed a stunning $176.5M
that year. Heartbreak was universally expected to open at number one
and was thought to have the potential to capture at least $20M in opening
weekend business for DreamWorks and Paramount. The budget was more than $60M,
according to the studios.
For Stiller, Heartbreak's opening was half the size of the bows of his other
recent comedies like
Night at the Museum ($30.4M),
Starsky and Hutch
($28.1M), and Along Came Polly ($27.7M). Those were PG or PG-13 films but the
comedian was still expected to draw a large crowd this weekend. However
for the Farrelly brothers, the performance was better than the $12.4M of their
last pic
Fever
Pitch in 2005 and the $9.4M of 2003's
Stuck
on You. Reviews were
mostly negative which is par for the course with these types of comedies.
The Heartbreak Kid put Stiller's box office power to the test and the results
were discouraging. Most of the comedian's hits feature other big stars to help
bring in
a paying audience. This time Stiller was the only major name and audiences did
not bite. In fact the launch was very similar to that of rival R-rated romantic
comedy
Good Luck Chuck which debuted to $13.7M and a better $5,227 average just two
weeks ago. That film offered some star wattage from both genders with
Dane Cook and
Jessica Alba.
Universal's Middle East drama
The Kingdom
dropped 46% in its second weekend to an estimated $9.3M and placed third. The
Jamie Foxx pic has taken in
$31.4M in ten days and should find its way to $50-55M. Sony's action-horror
sequel
Resident Evil: Extinction fell 47% to an estimated $4.3M and pushed its
17-day cume to $43.5M.
The Lionsgate comedy
Good Luck Chuck grossed an estimated $3.5M, off 44%, for a
$29.1M sum. The dance drama
Feel the Noise delivered a seventh place
debut with an estimated $3.4M from just 1,015 theaters. Averaging a mild $3,350
per site, the PG-13 film played to urban teens and came from the new
Sony/BMG film division.
(1-10 of 10 posts) | Reply
 on Oct 07 2007 06:22 PM I wish i could taste Ben Stiller's tears. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 07 2007 06:48 PM Good, now all we need is to have The Golden Compass bomb so that Hollywood will learn to make FAITHFUL adaptations of fantasy novels. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 07 2007 07:02 PM $100 million for The Game Plan? Really? It's already made 46-some, and that's including its opening, which is [almost] always when movies make the most money in their run. The Game Plan would have to more than double its current sum and it's already made as much money at one time as it ever will. So unless it makes $7 million every week for the next month or two, I don't really see it making $100 million. I'd say $70 million or so seems likelier, personally. Not that it matters, though. At the end of the day it's still The Game Plan and undeserving of every dollar it makes. I am pleased at The Seeker's smashing failure, though. Hopefully this means no sequels. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 07 2007 07:22 PM I loved the "Dark is Rising" the book, but the movie looks like a GAP commercial gone horribly wrong. Ben Stiller needs to get his act together and start making good movies... The only things I liked him in were "Meet the Parents" and that was because of DeNiro and "Zoolander" mostly because of his chemistry with Will Farrell and Owen Wilson. Let this be a lesson that remakes of 1970 romantic comedies can't buy love! (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 07 2007 07:50 PM i agree with ciaranmv.... hopefully, this will make hollywood realize that ben stiller is just not funny. lets recap all of his movies: night at the muesum, meet the fockers, meet the parents, envy, starsky and hutch, dodgeball (somewhat funny but definately not because of stiller), along came polly, and all the rest that i cant think of because they all suck and ben stiller is the same exact character in them all. stiller is kind of like adam sandler that no matter how ****ty the movie is, people will come see it. hopefully the heartbreak kid is the end of this trend and will force stiller to make GOOD MOVIES. but i doubt it. as for hollywood making faithful adaptations, i doubt that even if the golden compass bombs (i think it will be a good movie, but it wont be the blockbuster hollywood wants it to be) hollywood wont learn its lesson. (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 07 2007 09:37 PM Yeah, I think boxofficeguru is far to kind in long term projections, something I've noticed since I've been reading their columns for about a year now. I don't see The Game Plan having the steam to earn about 60 more million. I mean look at last week's weekday numbers, the daily grosses are already under 1 million for pete's sake. I'm assuming the film will see small drops, from about 25-35%, for the rest of it's run. If thats the case, it should end up at about $80-85 million, which is still a fantastic number. (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 08 2007 01:55 AM great here comes gameplan 2 i guess:( but hey at least ben stiller finally feeels the suffering for making us watch his terrible acting and comedy... almost. (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 08 2007 06:10 AM Gameplan...perfect marketing. anybody ELSE have an explanation why a presumed hack KIDS comedy can make that much money?? NOTHING else in the family genre has been released in forever and that wreaked of The Pacifer 2: Superbowl Sequel. christ, I ALMOST took my son to see it last week on vacation cuz we were so desperate for a kid's movie. still gonna see the Heartbreak kid though, i heard good things. hopefully the Farrelly brothers remembered how to be funny(stuck on you, fever pitch...sh3t and sh3t respectively). (Reply to this) |
 on Oct 08 2007 09:05 AM It's to bad The Heartbreak Kid didn't do better, it wasn't great but pretty good and it still was the best comedy I've seen in awhile. Nice to see Stiller and the Farrelly Brothers make an R rated comedy. The Jane Austen Book Club was pretty good, kinda had me on the fence for awhile but it ended well(B-). I'm very happy that the indi films are still doing well, just keep them expanding, so I get them. (Reply to this) |
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on Oct 08 2007 10:47 AM In reply to this comment (#1175847) Well, the grosses were under one mil, because kids are in school during the weekdays...which explains why the Kingdom lead the weekdays in terms of gross. And it might be a terrible movie (however way you see it), but I'm glad that The Rock has a legitimate hit on his hands; maybe this will show that he can bring in people...or maybe The Game Plan 2, whatever. (Reply to this) |
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