Virgin Twice as Nice the Second Time Around

August 29, 2005

The last weekend in August was weaker than expected when it came to new releases, but at least holdovers generally held up well. Overall the box office was down 14.5% from last weekend and 6.1% from last year, dropping below $100 million in the process. Year-to-date 2005 has earned $5.868 billion in total ticket sales, which is down 7.8% from the same time last year. Summer is even worse - down 9.2% to $3.367 billion.

It's fitting that the best reviewed wide release of the year was able to remain in top spot during its second weekend of release. The 40 Year-Old Virgin's $16.3 million over the weekend was higher than predicted and down just 24% from its debut. Comparing it to The Wedding Crashers, which is what everyone else seems to be doing, this film held up slightly better, but once the summer ends and the midweek numbers drop considerably, it won't have the same legs. Even so, finishing at $90 million is the target, and $100 million isn't out of the question.

The Brothers Grimm missed targets both with critics and at the box office. The $15.1 million was the best opening for a Terry Gilliam movie, but well below what the studio was hoping for given the $80 million production budget. On the other hand, it should perform better on the international stage and may even show a profit, eventually.

Another holdover that held up better than expected was Red Eye, which added $10.3 million during its second weekend, down just 36% from its opening. So far the film has made $36.6 million at the box office and is well on its way to showing a profit.

Four Brothers hit the mark perfectly earning $7.9 million, down just 37%. This is another film that is well on its way to a profit having made $55.4 million so far and should finish with about $80 million.

Rounding out the top five was The Cave, which barely grabbed onto that spot with $6.1 million, just a rounding error ahead of to The Wedding Crashers. This film cost roughly $30 million to make, and another $20 million to advertise, but its poor start and awful reviews it will make well less than $20 million domestically and its international outlook isn't any more promising. However, it had a Titanic like run compared to our next film.

Undiscovered managed just $676,000 over the weekend in 1,304 theatres finishing in 20th spot on the charts. I can't remember a worse opening for a wide release ever. On the plus side, it did earn one positive review over the weekend. This is two weeks in a row that a film has crashed and burned after Supercross also failed to reach a $1000 per theatre average during its opening, and during its second weekend of release it fell 72% to $377,000. It will be interesting to see if Undiscovered can beat that.


Submitted by:

Filed under: The 40 Year-old Virgin, Four Brothers, Red Eye, The Brothers Grimm, The Cave, Supercross, Undiscovered