Going as Planned

October 1, 2007

Well, that was predictable. Nearly every film finished the weekend within $1 million of Thursday's predictions, and the one that missed the mark by the biggest margin was still off by just $3 million. On the one hand, I'm happy our predictions were accurate. On the other hand, it makes it difficult to find something interesting to add.

The Game Plan was right on the money, earning first place and $22.95 million over the weekend. This is the best opening for Dwayne Johnson since Be Cool. Also, given the family friendly nature of the movie, even with poor reviews it should have the legs to become the biggest hit for the former wrestler since The Scorpion King.

On the other hand, The Kingdom missed expectations with just $17.14 million, but even this is still not a disastrous. Additionally, with a Tomatometer score of just over 50% positive, it could have OK legs and earn $50 million at the box office. This isn't a fantastic amount, but it is enough to be considered a midlevel hit.

Resident Evil - Extinction's decline was steep, but within expectations, as it fell 66% to $8.04 million over the weekend for a 10-day total of $36.83 million. It is very close to surpassing the original's total; however, it has fallen behind Apocalypse's pace and any talk of making a fourth film in the franchise should end.

Likewise, Good Luck Chuck also dipped a little faster than expected but with $6.24 million over the weekend, it was close enough to call a victory. Also, with $23.51 million in the bank, it is about a week from becoming Dane Cook's biggest hit of his career, which has already lasted longer than some expected.

As expected, The Brave One and 3:10 to Yuma battled for fifth place with 3:10 to Yuma winning, $4.21 million to $3.72 million.

The biggest disappointment of the weekend was Feast of Love, which missed even lowered expectations with just $1.71 million over the weekend. With reviews that were merely mixed and a per theater average less than the cost of a single print of the film, it just won't last long in theaters.

Moving onto the sophomore class, there was only one member not to reach the top five this week and that was Sydney White. The Amanda Bynes flick was sliced nicely in half, adding $2.57 million to take its total to $8.45 million. This film really should have performed better at the box office.

Finally, there was a milestone of sorts over the weekend as Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix hit $290,175,378. This may not seem like a big milestone, but it is more than Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire pulled in during its run in 2005. Considering these films don't seem to perform as well in the summertime, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince could earn more than $300 million domestically and over $1 billion worldwide. It also makes it a lot more likely that the franchise as a whole will reach $2 billion domestically by the end of its run.

-

Filed under: Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, The Game Plan, Resident Evil: Extinction, The Kingdom, The Brave One, Good Luck Chuck, Sydney White, Feast of Love, 3:10 to Yuma