Who Leads Weak Weekend Box Office

March 28, 2005

It was not a strong weekend at the box office as we saw significant drop-offs from last weekend (14.7%), last year (17.35%) and last Easter (14.7%). The reason for this decline is simple: not one film in the top five beat expectations by a significant margin. Year-to-date 2005 has racked up $1.87 billion in ticket sales, 1% lower than the same time last year, but this April looks stronger than last year so 2005 should regain the lead before too long.

Guess Who matched expectations almost perfectly with $20.7 million, which was easily enough to make it to top spot on the charts. The movie was even more front loaded than anticipated, and with poor reviews, its legs will likely be merely average. It will finish its run with $60 million.

It was nothing but bad news for Sandra Bullock's first starring role in 2 year as Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous was barely able to beat the original's debut, with $14.0 million over the weekend and $17.1 million since it opened on Thursday. Add in the sequel effect and awful reviews, and this film won't have half the legs of the original.

Speaking of short legs, The Ring 2 plummeted to third place with just $13.6 million, down more than 61%. With just $57.0 million so far (less than some were predicting for an opening weekend), the chances of the film hitting $100 million have slipped to almost nothing. Still, with a healthy international and home market numbers, the film could eventually see a profit.

For all intents and purposes, Robots matched expectations perfectly during its third weekend of release. And with $12.9 million at the box office, it cut its distance to $100 million in half. Although given the expectations surrounding this film, it will still be looked at as a disappointment.

Speaking of $100 million, The Pacifier continues its unlikely march to that milestone. This week the film added $8.1 million to its $85.8 million box office. By this time next week, the film will have dropped out of the top five, but will have cut the remaining gap in half.

One last note: it appears as if The Upside of Anger is the new Sideways as the former film spent its second weekend in a row at eleventh spot on the charts.


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Filed under: Robots, The Pacifier, The Ring Two, Guess Who, Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous, The Upside of Anger