Posted on 01/16/2006 3:19:41 PM PST by abb
LOS ANGELES -- Viewers favored family-oriented flicks over the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, with the animated fairy tale "Hoodwinked" and the inspirational sports flick "Glory Road" landing in the top two spots.
Box-office sales, however, were down about 12% from last year to $125.4 million, according to estimates released Monday.
"Hoodwinked," an animated update of the Little Red Riding Hood story, debuted with $16.6 million in ticket sales over the four-day weekend while "Glory Road" was a breath behind with $16.5 million.
A new Queen Latifah movie, "Last Holiday," opened in third place with $15.7 million. The only other new movie to make the top 10 list was the romance "Tristan & Isolde," which opened in eighth place with a gross of $7.9 million.
"Brokeback Mountain," director Ang Lee's story of two rugged Western family men concealing their homosexual affair, had the highest per-location average of any movie in the top 10, at $10,330 per location. It was ranked No. 9 in ticket sales over the long weekend. In spite of -- or perhaps because of -- the controversy over its gay theme, "Brokeback Mountain" has done well in every market where it has played.
"This film has everything going for it: the critical acclaim, the word of mouth and, of course, the seven Golden Globe nominations never hurt," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
The Golden Globes are scheduled to be handed out tonight.
"Hoodwinked" received mixed critical reviews but its opening day was a financial triumph for a movie that was made for a relatively paltry $15 to $20 million. Weinstein Co. hoped to expand its showings this week to as many as 3,000 screens.
(Excerpt) Read more at online.wsj.com ...
Wonderful.
Humpback Mountain will win everything.
Watch for Box Office numbers to fall even further.
Had some nice sushi afterwards!
Wifey & I went to see latest Harry Potter - not impressed, very poor editing. Not as good as last one.
Most pathetic thing was the previews - Cingular had an add with Steve Martin[?] and a vibrating cellphone that was over the edge, considering the age group [10-12 yr olds] in the audience. Last scene had him stickin his legs up, pants off [only bare legs & socks were shown] doining "something" with his vibrating tool. Tasteless Homo Prop.
"Box-Office Sales Slump Over Holiday Weekend"
yay!!!!!
Gee, yah think?
I should have added "this past Saturday night"
Here's the entire story. It was an AP story. Interesting news toward the end of the article...
LOS ANGELES -- The revisionist fairy tale "Hoodwinked" and the inspirational sports flick "Glory Road" topped a family oriented box office for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, according to estimates Monday.
"Hoodwinked," an animated update of the Little Red Riding Hood story, debuted with $16.6 million in ticket sales over the four-day weekend while "Glory Road" was a breath behind with $16.5 million.
A new Queen Latifah movie, "Last Holiday," opened in third place with $15.7 million.
The only other new movie to make the top 10 list was the romance "Tristan & Isolde," which opened in eighth place with a gross of $7.9 million.
"Brokeback Mountain," director Ang Lee's story of two rugged Western family men concealing their homosexual affair, had the highest per-location average of any movie in the top 10, at $10,330 per location. It was ranked No. 9 in ticket sales over the long weekend.
In spite of -- or perhaps because of -- the controversy over its gay theme, "Brokeback Mountain" has done well in every market where it has played.
"This film has everything going for it: the critical acclaim, the word of mouth and, of course, the seven Golden Globe nominations never hurt," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's become the must-see movie of the season."
The Golden Globes were to be handed out Monday night.
"Hoodwinked" received mixed critical reviews but its opening day was a financial triumph for a movie that was made for a relatively paltry $15 to $20 million. Weinstein Co. hoped to expand its showings this week to as many as 3,000 screens.
The movie was held back to January so it wouldn't have to face the big Christmas-season guns such as "King Kong" or "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which was fourth for the weekend and has now grossed more than $260 million.
"We're getting mainly families with young children," said Weinstein's Mike Rudnitsky, senior executive vice president for domestic distribution. "We know our target audience. We picked a holiday weekend because people are always looking to take their family out and looking for a family film."
It was the second independently produced movie to make No. 1 in two weeks, after the horror film "Hostel," from Lions Gate.
Another PG-rated film, "Glory Road," was in second place and made some $3 million dollars more in its opening than expected. The movie tells the story of how underdog Texas Western, fronted by an all-black starting lineup, beat the all-white powerhouse University of Kentucky to win the NCAA title in 1966.
Critics praised its inspirational qualities but panned its cliches.
Overall, the top 12 films grossed an estimated $125.4 million, down about 12 percent from last year's $142.7 million.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Hoodwinked," Weinstein Co., $16.6 million.
2. "Glory Road," Disney, $16.5 million.
3. "Last Holiday," Paramount, $15.7 million.
4. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Disney, $12.2 million.
5. "Hostel," Lions Gate, $11.7 million.
6. "Fun With Dick and Jane," Sony, $10.3 million.
7. "King Kong," Universal, $9.2 million.
8. "Tristan & Isolde," 20th Century Fox, $7.9 million.
9. "Brokeback Mountain," Focus, $7.1 million.
10. "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," 20th Century Fox, $6.8 million.
I'm looking forward to the Release of "Brokeback II-- Return to Brokeback", starring two of the sheep from the earlier film. Grab your hankerchiefs! It will make you laugh, cry.. and think...
As Captain James T. Kirk once said, emphatically, "Let them die!"
I actually do want to see Glory Road, but I won't go to a theatre for it.
That's because there are 'Oprahfied' women and sodomites in every market where it has played.
Dang! Does this mean I will have to miss Big Joe's Polka Show?
Muleteam1
Wait for the animated children's version of Brokeback, kids will watch anything with cartoon horses in it.
Ewwww. But I wouldn't put it past Hollywood, they are THAT out of touch. One movie about honest, patriotic, heroic American soliders kicking the crap out of slimy, Arab terrorists would gross a billion. But no one in that town is that courageous or patriotic any more.
Some exceptions of course, do exist: Bruce Willis, Gary Sinise, come to mind.
It'll make you "Baaaaaaaaa".
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