Theater Counts: Narnia Still Widest Release, Kong to Win Weekend
December 15, 2005
The Chronicles of Narnia remains the widest US release this weekend, adding 64 venues from last week to play in 3,680 theaters.
Its second weekend will be a crucial indicator of its long term future, but all eyes will be on King Kong.
The ape movie opened with a soft $9.8 million on Wednesday, and Universal will be hoping it picks up pace going into the weekend.
The most obvious comparison movie for Kong is 2003's Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, which had a similar runtime, opened on the same Wednesday, and was, of course, also directed by Peter Jackson.
Return of the King earned $34.5 million on its opening day.
But the built in audience for that movie makes the comparison somewhat less than fair.
Even so, The Fellowship of the Ring opened with over $18 million in fewer theaters in 2001.
In that light, $10 million looks like a problem with Universal, with their main hope being that the movie can generate good word of mouth and grow its business throughout the weekend.
They can draw hope from Shrek 2's first weekend.
That monster movie earned $11.8 million on its opening day, and went on to gross $108 million Friday through Sunday.
King Kong is unlikely to recover that dramatically, but it's far too early to write it off.
Rank Movie Theaters Change Weeks in
ReleaseDistributor
1 Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, The 3,680 +64 2 Buena Vista
2 King Kong (2005) 3,568 New 1 Universal
3 Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 3,185 -543 5 Warner Bros.
4 Yours, Mine and Ours (2005) 2,723 -487 4 Paramount
5 Walk the Line 2,664 -370 5 Fox
6 Family Stone, The 2,465 New 1 Fox
7 Aeon Flux 2,058 -550 3 Paramount
8 Just Friends 1,882 -582 4 New Line
9 Syriana 1,775 +23 4 Warner Bros.
10 Chicken Little 1,602 -724 7 Buena Vista
27 Bluff Master 43 New 1 UTV
28 Producers, The (2005) 6 New 1 Universal
29 Tres entierros de Melquiades Estrada, Los 5 New 1 Sony Classics
30 Grace Lee Project, The 2 New 1 Women Make Movies
31 Electric Shadows 1 New 1 First Run
32 Happy Here and Now 1 New 1 IFC Films
33 Hoodwinked 1 New 1 Universal
Estimated Theater Counts for Next Week's Openers
Movie Theaters Distributor
Fun With Dick And Jane 3,000 Sony
Cheaper by the Dozen 2 3,000 Fox
Rumor Has It 2,800 Warner Bros.
Wolf Creek 1,700 Weinstein/Dimension
Ringer, The 1,600 Fox Searchlight
Memoirs of a Geisha 1,400 Sony
Producers, The (2005) 950 Universal
Munich 525 Universal
Casanova 35 Buena Vista
White Countess, The 5 Sony Classics
New World, The 3 New Line
Cache 2 Sony Classics
Intruder, The 1 WellSpring
Master of the Crimson Armor 1 Weinstein
Filed under: Theater Counts, King Kong