Box Office Goes Mad

June 6, 2005

This past weekend was arguably the worst weekend at the box office all year, maybe not in terms of raw dollars, but certainly in terms of drop-offs. None of the new films could match expectations, which helped lead to a 28.38% drop-off from last weekend. Now a post-holiday drop-off is expected, but 28.38%! Even worse, the weekend was down 30.25% from the same time last year. 30.25%! Year-to-date, 2005 has brought in $3.43 billion at the box office, which is 6.7% behind 2004 during the same time frame. And with the later half of 2005 looking weaker, there's little hope it will turn things around.

The family friendly nature of Madagascar allowed it to soften its sophomore decline to just over 40% landing at $28.1 million. This, plus weak competition meant the film rose to first place on the charts during its second weekend of release. It also reached $100 million, the fifth film to do so this year.

The Longest Yard defied analysts and critics alike by capturing second place with $26.1 million. The film should reach $100 million sometime during the week, making it the sixth Adam Sandler film to do so.

While Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith missed first place (earning $25.1 million), it was able to beat Shrek 2 to the top of the fastest to $300 million charts. On the other hand, the film has almost no chance to beat the record for Fastest to $400 million, and may struggle to just hit that milestone. On the positive side, the film is now the 18th Highest Grossing film of all time and has easily shown a significant profit.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend was Cinderella Man, which could only bring in $18.3 million. This despite an amazing cast, incredible director and stellar reviews. Thanks to said reviews and a more mature target demographic, the film should have stronger legs than this start would otherwise indicate. But it will need a lot of help to hit $100 million.

Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants just missed expectations with $9.8 million and has earned $13.6 million since its debut on Wednesday. The best reviews of the weekend should help the film reach original expectations but without much of a future internationally, this film will have to wait until the home market to earn a profit.

Last we have Lords of Dogtown, which couldn't even match lowered expectations, landing at seventh place with $5.6 million. Mixed reviews plus a low per theater average should result in a short theatrical run. The only piece of good news is the film wasn't that expensive to make, so the studio won't lose a whole lot.

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Filed under: Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, Madagascar, The Longest Yard, Cinderella Man, The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants, Lords of Dogtown