By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
16 Block Party…
Medea’s Family Reunion withstood a quartet of new releases as top draw in the marketplace with an estimated $12.7 million. There was a lack of real utz in film going for Oscar weekend with 16 Blocks taking second spot with $11.6 million and the bow of Dave Chappelle’s Block Party trailing the freshman field with $6.7 million. The frame also saw the very big screen debut of Deep Sea 3-Dgrossing $680,000 at 43 Imax locations.
Overall business was on the descendant with almost all of the Oscar contenders getting at least a slight box office boost. However, as most nominees are in limited release it did nothing to enliven weekend revenues that were in double-digit decline.
16 Blocks’ opening day had a slight edge on Medea that faded as the span proceeded. Pundits anticipated a more buoyant weekend with incoming product expected to perform with greater force to surpass Tyler Perry’s sophomore entry. But despite upbeat reviews Bruce Willis’s Block party came up short of a perceived $15 million or $16 million bow. WB-based Alcon Entertainment acquired the film with the studio providing only modest promotional support in the days leading up to release.
Similarly both the actioner Ultraviolet and the teen mermaid Aquamarine fell short of eight-figure weekends. Certainly in the former instance, there appears to be weariness among the young male audience of distaff superheroes in light of the recent performance of Elektra and Catwoman. The second film indicates again that young females don’t have quite the zeal to see targeted product on opening day. The films were ranked fourth and fifth with respective grosses of $8.9 million and $7.5 million.
The combination of past performance histories of concert films by Richard Pryor, Eddie Murphyand Martin Lawrence and Dave Chappelle’s current popularity and intriguing behavior also anticipated bigger returns than the $6.7 million gross of Block Party. The film had a strong opening day but promptly fell 17% on Saturday and emerged as a “for rapid fans only” endeavor.
Weekend revenues should top out at roughly $105 million, or a rollback of 14% from seven days earlier. It’s also off last year’s pace of 16% when the debut of The Pacifier grossed an unexpected but welcome $30 million.
While the media was buzzing with Oscar news, multiplex marquees were giving limited space to this year’s nominees. Brokeback Mountain, this year’s frontrunner, received a 10% boost and was the top grossing among contenders. A clutch of statuettes Sunday should add about $20 million to the picture’s gross for an ultimate domestic tally of $100 million. There’s also no denying that such films as Capote, Transamerica and Good Night, and Good Luck are receiving wider exposure both in the U.S. and overseas as a result of their award glory.
The session also included the American bow of French Oscar-submission Joyeux Noel (Merry Christmas) that grossed about $45,000 from six screens. The second weekend of South African nominee Tsotsi added a location and its seven venues tallied roughly $75,000.
Weekend Estimates – March 2-5, 2006
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change | Theaters | Cume |
| Medea’s Family Reunion | Lions Gate | 12.7 (5,780) | -58% | 2194 | 47.8 |
| 16 Blocks | WB | 11.6 (4,300) | 0 | 2706 | 11.6 |
| Eight Below | BV | 10.2 (3,270) | -36% | 3122 | 58.7 |
| Ultraviolet | Sony | 8.9 (3,470) | 0 | 2558 | 8.9 |
| Aquamarine | Fox | 7.5 (3,000) | 0 | 2512 | 7.5 |
| The Pink Panther | Sony | 7.0 (2,310) | -37% | 3024 | 69.6 |
| Dave Chappelle’s Block Party | Focus | 6.7 (5,550) | 0 | 1200 | 6.7 |
| Date Movie | Fox | 5.2 (1,990) | -43% | 2603 | 40.8 |
| Curious George | Uni | 4.4 (1,710) | -38% | 2590 | 49.2 |
| Firewall | WB | 3.6 (1,640) | -46% | 2212 | 42.5 |
| Final Destination 3 | New Line | 3.2 (1,440) | -42% | 2208 | 49.7 |
| Brokeback Mountain | Focus | 2.5 (1,990) | 10% | 1272 | 78.9 |
| Doogal | Weinstein Co. | 1.9 (830) | -47% | 2319 | 6.2 |
| Capote | Sony Classics | 1.6 (2,600) | 55% | 635 | 25.5 |
| TransAmerica | Weinstein Co. | 1.5 (2,300) | 77% | 656 | 6.7 |
| Running Scared | New Line | 1.3 (800) | -62% | 1611 | 5.9 |
| Nanny McPhee | Uni | 1.2 (920) | -49% | 1329 | 44.4 |
| When a Stranger Calls | Sony | 1.1 (1,020) | -55% | 1118 | 47.1 |
| Big Momma’s House 2 | Fox | 1.1 (1,170) | -54% | 950 | 67.3 |
| Mrs. Henderson Presents | Weinstein Co. | .94 (1,800) | -6% | 522 | 8.5 |
| Good Night, and Good Luck | WIP | .76 (2,670) | 16% | 285 | 31.3 |
| Deep Sea 3-D | WB | .68 (15,810) | 0% | 43 | 0.68 |
| Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Sony Classics | .65 (1,860) | -38% | 350 | 2.8 |
| Freedomland | Sony | .63 (640) | -78% | 987 | 12.3 |
| Match Point | DreamWorks | .59 (1,700) | -36% | 347 | 22.4 |
| Munich | Uni | .53 (1,630) | 6% | 325 | 46.8 |
| Walk the Line | Fox | .52 (1,390) | -28% | 375 | 118.3 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films | $98.50 | 0 | 0 | 0 | |
| % Change (Last Year) | 0 | -16% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| % Change (Last Week) | 0 | -14% | 0 | 0 | 0 |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Night Watch | Fox Searchlight | .36 (2,280) | 74% | 158 | 0.77 |
| Tsotsi | Miramax | 74,800 (10,690) | -2% | 7 | 0.18 |
| Joyeux Noel | Sony Class/Seville | 48,600 (6,950) | 0 | 7 | 0.47 |
| Woman is the Future of Man | New Yorker | 5,230 (5,230) | 0 | 1 | 0.01 |
Domestic Market Share: January 1 – March 2, 2006
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Percentage |
| Sony (10) | 274.1 | 19.30% |
| Fox (8) | 203.7 | 14.30% |
| Buena Vista (10) | 202.6 | 14.20% |
| Universal (6) | 190.4 | 13.40% |
| Warner Bros. (6) | 90.9 | 6.40% |
| Weinstein Co. (7) | 85.1 | 6.00% |
| Lions Gate (4) | 83.4 | 5.90% |
| Focus (4) | 80.5 | 5.70% |
| New Line (5) | 65.1 | 4.60% |
| Paramount (4) | 42.9 | 3.00% |
| DreamWorks (3) | 23.1 | 1.60% |
| Sony Classics (7) | 19.3 | 1.40% |
| Fox Searchlight (3) | 19.1 | 1.30% |
| Rocky Mountain (1) | 11.6 | 0.80% |
| Warner Independent (3) | 8.3 | 0.60% |
| Other * (47) | 22.1 | 1.50% |
| = | 1273.8 | 100.00% |
