Team America on the Offensive

October 15, 2004

Two films open wide this weekend, one has really wooden acting and the other stars marionettes. OK, that was a cheap joke. After a very strong start, October is starting to show signs of weakness and will probably see another small drop at the box office.

Team America: World Police is probably the most offensive movie of the year. It may in fact be the most offensive movie since South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut. Fortunately, it offends both side evenly and should help united a divided nation. Or perhaps its just 90 minutes of juvenile humor that's meant to merely entertain. The film should have little trouble finishing first with $23 million, but don't expect strong legs due to the fanboy effect.

Shark Tale should see a larger drop at the box office this week than it managed last weekend, but at $18 million it is still a very strong performance. It is also more than enough to push the film past $100 million, the 15th film to do so this year, which is behind last year's record breaking pace.

2004 has not been a good year when it comes to leggy films, but October seems to be bucking that trend. Friday Night Lights is the latest example of such a film as it should earn just shy of $13 million during its sophomore stint.

The second wide release is Shall We Dance?, which has had sneak peak in each of the last three weeks. Miramax was hoping to use these sneak peaks to build word-of-mouth, however, this will probably backfire as the reviews are weak and there's no reason to think the word-of-mouth will be much better. The film should take in $9 million over the weekend, just shy of what the original made in 1997.

Rounding out the top five will be Ladder 49 with $8 million. That should allow its final box office to surpass its production budget.


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Filed under: Shark Tale, Ladder 49, Friday Night Lights, Shall We Dance?, Team America: World Police