Potter Plummets but Remains on Top
December 5, 2005
The post holiday weekend was particularly brutal this year with the overall box office in free-fall.
Receipts were down 47.6% from last weekend and it was also down compared to last year, although by a mere 0.5%. Year-to-date, 2005 is still behind by 6% and we're quickly running out of chances to catch up.
Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire had the worst week-to-week drop-off in the top five, losing 64.7% and falling below $20 million with $19.9 million.
After three weeks, the film has made a total of $229.3 million, which would have been a disappointing but acceptable final box office.
Even with massive competition opening in each of the next two weeks, the film should have no trouble adding to its overall box office and topping the previous two films in the franchise.
Despite being the only wide release of the week, Aeon Flux was only able to come close to lowered expectations with $12.7 million.
And with reviews that were overwhelmingly negative, it probably won't have the same legs as most December releases have.
Walk the Line also came very close to meeting expectations with $9.5 million, putting its box office at $68.3 million. It has already beaten original expectations and paid for its production budget.
Now all it needs to do is earn some awards and the film will be a complete success.
Yours, Mine & Ours held up better than expected with $8.3 million over the weekend for a running tally of $34.4 million.
Again, that's more than originally expected and the film should go on to be a financial success.
On the other hand, it will never be considered a critical success.
The biggest surprise in the top five was Just Friends, which had the best week-to-week drop-off in the top five, falling just 39.1%.
(On a side note, it wasn't that long ago when falling 39% would have been considered a disaster, even for a post-holiday weekend.)
The $5.6 million the film earned allowed it to climb into fifth place and pushed it totals to $21.1 million so far, which is also more than originally expected.
November certainly turned out to be a better month than expected.
Hopefully that trend will continue throughout December.
Filed under: Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, Walk the Line, Yours, Mine and Ours, Just Friends, Aeon Flux