Super Bowl doesn't Stunt the Weekend Box Office

February 7, 2005

With two new releases going up against the media juggernaut that is the Super Bowl, everyone was expecting at least one movie to flop hard, but that didn't happen. Granted, the weekend box office was down 16.8% from last weekend, but that wasn't as steep a drop as expected. Comparisons to last year are a less accurate as Super Bowl happened a weekend earlier. Compared the last year this weekend was down 8.3%, but compared to last Super Bowl weekend, it was up 8.0%

Good news, Boogeyman not only took top spot, but beat expectations with $19.0 million. Bad news, the film had an anemic 2.3 internal multiplier, and given its genre and awful reviews, that would tend to indicate, short, short legs. However, with a $20 million production budget, and expected $30 million P&A budget, this film should still end up a financial success just after hitting the home market.

Surprisingly, The Wedding Date's low theatre count and appalling reviews didn't hurt the film's box office. $11.1 million was not only good enough for first place, it gave the film the top per theater average in the top 20. How well it does next weekend depends on how much it can expand, and how much of the Valentine box office Hitch can capture.

Are We There Yet? beat expectations, again, dropping just 35% to $10.6 million. The film has already earned enough to be considered a success and should stick around in the top ten for a few more weeks.

Hide & Seek was the first film to fail to meet expectations dropping just shy of 60% to $8.9 million. At this pace, the film will only last one more weekend in the top ten, two tops. But the film has already beaten expectations, so the news isn't all bad.

Rounding out the top five is Million Dollar Baby with $8.7 million, just a little below predictions. But out of all the movies on this list, this one will have the longest legs.

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Filed under: Million Dollar Baby, Hide and Seek, Boogeyman, The Wedding Date, Are We There Yet?