By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
That Sinking Feeling
Mission: Impossible III took close to a 50% hit but that was still enough to keep it ahead of the debut of Poseidon. The Mission statement was estimated at $24.6 million while the upside-down remake soaked up $20.5 million. The marketplace had other soggy starts including a fourth place opening of $5.6 million for the Lindsey Lohan romantic-comedy Just My Luck and a $1.9 million bow for the soccer-themed Goal! from England. It added down to lower grosses from the prior year as well as the prior weekend.
It wasn’t much of a surprise that MI3 experienced what’s become a typical second weekend drop for a tentpole movie. However, as its opener was below estimates, there was disappointment that it won’t emerge as quite the powerhouse the industry had anticipated. Fears that next weekend’s arrival of The Da Vinci Code will suck up the grosses of current releases leave the Tom Cruisevehicle gasping to surpass an eventual $175 million domestic gross.
More than just the Captain went down with Poseidon. The remake of the 1972 catastrophe chestnut had been displaying all the signs of commercial disappointment for weeks but pundits still expected a first place finish with a box office of $25 million to $30 million. Its Imax run was about the only bright spot with an estimated $1.5 million from 64 venues.
The picture dipped its toe into international markets with openings in six Asian territories including India, Singapore, Malaysia and the Philippines were in rang up an impressive $4.4 million estimate including Imax runs in India. The film opened at the top of the charts in all territories except Indonesia and India.
On a scaled down basis, the expectation/results ratio wasn’t any better for Just My Luck. Promoted as Lindsay Lohan’s first mature role, the romantic comedy appeared to have drawn in her core audience … just not enough of them.
Weekend business was clocking in just shy of $100 million in ticket sales or 13% behind last weekend’s Cruise speed. It also lagged in relation to 2005’s pace when Monster in Law andKicking and Screaming led the frame with respective debuts of $23.1 million and $20.2 million.
Soccer movies have never particularly galvanized American audiences though ironically one year ago a variant with a comedic spin opened with comparable numbers to this weekend’s Poseidon. Goal!certainly failed to buck the trend though the British production’s U.S. release appeared to be an afterthought. The film was released internationally in 2005 and rang up about $18 million in Europe and South America.
Results in niche play were also generally disappointing. The ethnic comedy Keeping Up with the Steins had no better than fair returns of $590,000 from 138 mtzvahs. Sony Classics abandoned its traditionally cautious release expansions on Art School Confidential with the addition of 750 playdates from its 12-screen bow. Its $1.2 million weekend painted it into an alcove with no commercial upside.
On a pound-for-pound basis a couple of non-fiction portraits were trumps among new releases.Sketches of Frank Gehry by Sydney Pollack grossed almost $17,000 from two exclusive engagements while Giuliani Time on the former Big Apple mayor was eyeing $8,500 on a single screen.
The rest of the freshman class included the coming of age Wah-Wah with $52,000 at 25 engagements; Russian Dolls, the sequel to L’Auberge Espagnole, cradling $15,000 from three theaters and the heartwarming canine Saving Shiloh off the leash with $5,200 from 30 kennels.
Weekend Estimates – May 12-14, 2006
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % change | Theaters | Cume |
| Mission: Impossible III | Par | 24.6 (6,060) | -48% | 4059 | 84.7 |
| Poseidon | WB | 20.5 (5,760) | – | 3555 | 20.5 |
| RV | Sony | 9.0 (2,540) | -18% | 3536 | 42.3 |
| Just My Luck | Fox | 5.6 (2,190) | – | 2541 | 5.6 |
| United 93 | Uni | 3.6 (1,940) | -32% | 1871 | 25.7 |
| An American Haunting | Freestyle | 3.4 (1,980) | -42% | 1703 | 10.6 |
| Stick It | BV | 3.3 (1,630) | -40% | 2009 | 22.3 |
| Ice Age: The Meltdown | Fox | 2.9 (1,550) | -30% | 1879 | 187.3 |
| Silent Hill | Sony/Alliance | 2.2 (1,170) | -45% | 1888 | 44.5 |
| Hoot | New Line | 2.1 (690) | -38% | 3018 | 6.2 |
| Akeelah and the Bee | Lions Gate | 2.0 (1,730) | -40% | 1176 | 13.6 |
| Scary Movie 4 | Weinstein Co. | 2.0 (1,130) | -45% | 1793 | 86.5 |
| Goal! | BV | 1.9 (1,910) | 1007 | 1.9 | |
| The Wild | BV | 1.6 (1,320) | -39% | 1216 | 34.3 |
| The Sentinel | Fox | 1.5 (1,160) | -50% | 1314 | 33.6 |
| Art School Confidential | Sony Classics | 1.2 (1,540) | 760% | 762 | 1.4 |
| The Benchwarmers | Sony | 1.0 (1,060) | -49% | 969 | 57.1 |
| Thank You for Smoking | Fox Searchlight | .94 (2,200) | -11% | 427 | 21.4 |
| Friends with Money | Sony Classics | .85 (1,870) | -23% | 455 | 11.2 |
| Inside Man | Uni | .62 (1,360) | -31% | 455 | 87 |
| Keeping Up with the Steins | Miramax | .59 (4,270) | – | 138 | 0.59 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $91.40 | – | – | – | |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | -6% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | -13% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Wah-Wah | IDP | 52,300 (2,090) | – | 25 | 0.05 |
| Sketches of Frank Gehry | Sony Classics | 16,900 (8,440) | – | 2 | 0.02 |
| Russian Dolls | IFC | 15,300 (5,100) | – | 3 | 0.02 |
| Giuliani Time | Cinema Libre | 8,500 (8,500) | – | 1 | 0.01 |
| Saving Shiloh | New Dog | 5,200 (170) | – | 30 | 0.01 |
Top Domestic Grossers: January 1 – May 11, 2006
| Ice Age: The Meltdown | Fox | 184,420,315 |
| Failure to Launch | Par | 87,328,276 |
| Inside Man | Uni | 86,368,485 |
| Scary Movie 4 | Weinstein Co. | 84,501,768 |
| The Pink Panther | Sony | 82,939,694 |
| The Chronicles of Narnia * | BV | 82,270,870 |
| Eight Below | BV | 81,231,885 |
| Brokeback Mountain * | Focus | 70,615,735 |
| Big Momma’s House 2 | Fox | 70,085,227 |
| V for Vendetta | WB | 69,563,652 |
| Medea’s Family Reunion | Lions Gate | 63,392,499 |
| Underworld: Evolution | Sony | 62,615,442 |
| Mission: Impossible III | Par | 60,091,171 |
| King Kong * | Uni | 59,422,439 |
| Curious George | Uni | 58,463,139 |
| The Shaggy Dog | BV | 57,450,175 |
| Fun with Dick and Jane * | Sony | 57,288,236 |
| The Benchwarmers | Sony | 56,107,026 |
| Final Destination 3 | NLC | 54,351,887 |
| Hoodwinked | Weinstein Co. | 51,224,985 |
| * does not include 2005 box office | ||
Domestic Market Share: January 1 – May 11, 2006
| Fox (11) | 458.4 | 15.90% |
| Sony (15) | 452.7 | 15.70% |
| Buena Vista (14) | 373.6 | 12.90% |
| Universal (10) | 333.6 | 11.60% |
| Warner Bros. (10) | 238.5 | 8.30% |
| Paramount (7) | 224.1 | 7.80% |
| Weinstein Co. (9) | 185.9 | 6.40% |
| Lions Gate (9) | 143.6 | 5.00% |
| New Line (6) | 113.5 | 3.90% |
| Focus (7) | 100.8 | 3.50% |
| Fox Searchlight (7) | 89.4 | 3.10% |
| Sony Classics (12) | 40.8 | 1.40% |
| DreamWorks (3) | 24.7 | 0.80% |
| MGM (1) | 21.8 | 0.80% |
| Other * (113) | 85.2 | 2.90% |
| * none greater than 0.5% | 2886.6 | 100.00% |
