Posted on 01/02/2006 2:24:11 PM PST by LdSentinal
LOS ANGELES —
"The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe" snatched the box office crown from "King Kong" during another fierce four-day holiday battle for the top spot.
Less than $2 million separated "Kong" and "Narnia" each of the past two weekends.
"We edged out `Kong.' It's been neck-and-neck," Buena Vista's Dennis Rice said Monday. "These are two great movies in the marketplace that are doing great business."
"Narnia" took in an estimated $32.8 million from Friday through Monday, nudging Universal's "King Kong" out of the No. 1 spot and into second with a New Year's weekend gross of $31.6 million.
"This is a great way to start the new year. We have an up weekend _ 5 percent over the last New Year's weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. "Propelled by these two blockbusters, it's really moving the box office."
"King Kong" was No. 1 during the Christmas holiday with a four-day turnstile take of $33.3 million; "Narnia" was No. 2 with $31.7 million.
"Narnia" passed the benchmark $200 million North American box office tally on Friday and "King Kong" was expected to pass $400 million worldwide Monday.
"Fun With Dick and Jane" was in third place with $21 million, followed by "Cheaper by the Dozen 2" with $19.3 million, a 26 percent jump over the previous weekend. Jennifer Aniston's "Rumor Has It" was fifth with $11.6 million.
"The Family Stone" was sixth with $10.2 million, "Memoirs of a Geisha" was seventh with $10 million and "The Ringer" was eighth with $8 million. Ninth place was held by "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," with $7.5 million. It has taken in $277 million in seven weeks of release.
Steven Spielberg's "Munich" rounded out the Top 10 with $6.1 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Buena Vista, $32.8 million.
2. "King Kong," Universal, $31.6 million.
3. "Fun With Dick and Jane," Sony, $21 million.
4. "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," Fox, $19.3 million.
5. "Rumor Has It," Warner Bros., $11.6 million.
6. "The Family Stone," Fox, $10.2 million.
7. "Memoirs of a Geisha," Sony, $10 million.
8. "The Ringer," Fox Searchlight, $8 million.
9. "Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire," Warner Bros., $7.5 million.
10. "Munich," Universal, $6.1 million.
Here is the Brake in the Back Mountain film?
What is the price of Syriana? Has it even made back its advertising costs? Nyuk-nyuk.
Not even in the top 10. I guess American's didn't want to see a movie about queer sheep herders after all.
12th place and will be in fewer theatres on Friday.
http://www.boxofficemojo.com/weekend/chart/
14th place, down from 13th last week.
Where's Syriana? Heh heh heh...
Ahhhhhh....GOD is SOOOO GOOD indeed.
Here's the deal: Kong came out about a week later, and the two films are neck and neck.
Narnia's showing some excellent holding power.
Wasn't Syriana great guns in the first weekend of release? It really fell off.
What happened to the shepherd that got bored with sheep?
On a serious note I took two of my grandchildren to see Narnia on Sunday and we didn't get thrown out which speaks to the effect of the movie on my youguns at any rate.
Did it ever get a wide release date?
Movie Web says the total box office of Syrana was $30 Million as of 01/02/05. Click below for an update.
http://www.movieweb.com/movies/box_office/daily/film_daily.php?id=2490&nr=1&ns=1&nv=1&nb=1&nn=1
Cost of production: $50 million
http://messageboards.aol.com/aol/en_us/articles.php?boardId=213171&func=5&articleId=1589&channel=Celebrities&ignoreKillFile=1
If you can stomack the 41 page production notes PDF, go here.
http://media.movieweb.com/galleries/2490/notes.pdf
That warn't no sheep that bored him.
Exactly.
For Narnia to still be taking in these sales, and topping Kong that debuted a week later is making waves as surely as TPOTC did.
Kong was being pushed as THE big Giant that would dominate by certain sectors that also downplayed Narnia. Kong's done well, but not as well as Narnia.
The article says King Kong would break $400 million world wide by Monday. Is that true? It hasn't even hit $200 million in the US.
I saw Narnia and recommend it. Over the weekend, I saw Walk the Line and recommend that too. Joaquin Phoenix gave an Academy Award winning performance as Johnny Cash.
I hope I don't have to see one more commercial for that movie. One has the men one behind the other with a little up and down action.
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