Box Office Gets Flux-ed

Source: Comingsoon.net

The weekend after Thanksgiving is rarely anything to write home about, but this year was particularly dismal with only one new movie and most of the returning movies taking serious downwards turns.

Still at the top of the pack, though maybe not for long, is Warner Bros' Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, which earned roughly $20.4 million in its third weekend, a 62% drop from the three-day Thanksgiving weekend, compared to the first movie in the series, Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, which only had a 59% drop in its third weekend four years ago. Still, Goblet of Fire is still doing well, having earned just under $230 million, which puts it well ahead of the three previous installments in their third weekends. So far, it has grossed more than the previous installment, Prisoner of Azkaban, made in five weekends during the summer. Goblet of Fire also added $92.6 million from 57 international markets for a worldwide total of $560 million so far. It is ranked 29th on the all-time worldwide box office list so far.

Paramount Pictures and MTV Films released the weekend's sole new movie in wide release, Æon Flux, based on the MTV animated sci-fi series. Starring Charlize Theron in the title role--and in very little else--the action flick earned an estimated $13.1 million over the weekend, not great, but certainly no bomb and better than her last picture, the drama North Country. The word you might be looking for is "irony."

Earning $10 million in its third weekend, the Johnny Cash biodrama Walk the Line, with Joaquin Phoenix and Reese Witherspoon, dropped down a notch to third with an estimated box office gross just under $69 million, which makes it likely to hit the $100 million mark if it gets the Oscar nominations expected.

Paramount's remake of the Lucille Ball comedy Yours, Mine and Ours with Dennis Quaid and Renee Russo, took an expected hit from the lack of a holiday, dropping 52% in its second weekend, with a weekend take of about $8.4 million. It had grossed around $34.5 million in twelve days, which means it could make back its $45 million production budget by the end of the month.

The two movies that held up the best from Thanksgiving weekend were the New Line romantic comedy Just Friends and Focus Features' adaptation of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice, starring Keira Knightley. Each of them dropped less than 40% from their Thanksgiving weekend take and both moved up a notch to fifth and sixth place with $5.6 and $4.6 million respectively. Sony might not be able to pay the Rent with the Chris Columbus directed musical, although it came out just below Pride & Prejudice with its own $4.6 million weekend take. All three of them crossed the $20 million mark this weekend.

Walt Disney Pictures' animated comedy Chicken Little may have finally run its course, dropping from fourth to eighth place, with just over $4.5 million in its fifth weekend. It has grossed just under $125 million so far.

The Clive Owen-Jennifer Aniston thriller Derailed and Usher's In the Mix rounded out the Top 10 with the former having earned $32.8 million to date. Not bad at all for an initial offering from the Weinstein's new company.

The Weinstein Co.'s second offering, TransAmerica, starring Felicity Huffman as a preop transgender man, opened in a single theatre in New York and Los Angeles, each averaging roughly $22 thousand in business this weekend. Still in limited release but expanding nationwide next weekend, Stephen Gaghan's political thriller Syriana, starring George Clooney and Matt Damon, added four more theatres, earning roughly $490 thousand. It has made $1.2 million so far.