By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Booooooooo!
More treat than trick commercially speaking, Saw III sliced through the marketplace with an estimated $34.2 million to take command as weekend movie favorite. The frame had only one other national debut with the political thriller Catch a Fire at a low spark of $2.1 million.
Activity was torrid in limited and platform bows with Babel most impressive at $360,000 from seven venues and the Dixie Chick’s Shut Up & Sing generating a tuneful $47,000 from four concerts. However, the controversial Death of a President was mostly firing blanks with about a $200,000 tally from 122 playdates.
Bond may have a license to kill but Saw’s license to print money carries considerably greater industry weight. The third installment of the grisly saga sold even more weekend tickets than segment two released 52 weeks ago. Unless OPEC seizes control of resources for movie blood this inexpensive serrated franchise has considerably more commercial mileage in its tank.
The frame also featured some excellent holds for, again, The Departed and Open Season and a better than expected 65% hold for The Prestige. However, anxiety is running high over Flags of Our Fathers that added 314 screens and experienced a 35% drop in screen average. The award season cannot come too soon for the Second World War saga.
Weekend revenues were approaching $105 million for a virtual carbon copy result from the immediate prior frame. There was a 9% boost from 2005 when the debut of Saw II sliced off $31.7 million, followed by the opening of the Legend of Zorro and Prime with respectively $16.3 million and $6.2 million.
Fueled by four star reviews Catch a Fire entered the marketplace with 1305 screens and a disappointing $2.1 million return. The South African-set Apartheid era yarn was playing more upscale than ethnic but neither niche was particularly potent. The response was warmer for Running with Scissors that expanded from eight to 586 theaters and generated about $2.5 million for the three days.
The Queen also continued to fare well in its slow roll out, adding $1.9 million to the royal coffers but The Last King of Scotland continued to falter, losing 18 screens and experiencing a 23% decline at movie polling stations.
Dipping its toes into the awards race, Babel spoke to audiences with a distinctive $364,000 gross and $51,000 screen average. The film split critics at Cannes but has generally received upbeat domestic reviews and capitalized on the appeal of its international cast.
Apart from Shut Up & Sing, the rest of the limited openers failed to secure a toe-hold in the marketplace. Winner of the International Critics prize at Toronto, Death of a President – a fictionalized account of George W. Bush’s assassination – failed to generate even a visceral thrill for political detractors while inspirational fare including Conversation with God and The Color of the Cross had middling response and the acclaimed doc on Golden Gate suicides, The Bridge, plunged into shallow waters.
Weekend Estimates – October 29, 2006
Title | Distributor | Gross (avg) | % change | Theaters | Cume |
Saw III | Lions Gate | 34.2 (10,810) | x | 3167 | 34.2 |
The Departed | WB | 9.8 (3,310) | -27% | 2951 | 91 |
The Prestige | BV | 9.6 (4,200) | -35% | 2281 | 28.8 |
Flags of Our Fathers | Par | 6.3 (2,890) | -38% | 2190 | 19.9 |
Open Season | Sony | 6.1 (1,990) | -26% | 3059 | 77.3 |
Flicka | Fox | 4.9 (1,710) | -36% | 2877 | 14.1 |
Man of the Year | Uni | 4.7 (1,770) | -33% | 2626 | 28.8 |
The Grudge 2 | Sony | 3.4 (1,100) | -56% | 3063 | 36.1 |
Marie Antoinette | Sony | 2.8 (3,210) | -49% | 859 | 9.7 |
Running with Scissors | Sony | 2.5 (4,330) | 1024% | 586 | 2.9 |
The Guardian | BV | 2.4 (1,210) | -35% | 1973 | 50 |
Catch a Fire | Focus | 2.1 (1,580) | x | 1305 | 2.1 |
The Marine | Fox | 1.9 (1,030) | -49% | 1868 | 15.5 |
The Queen | Miramax | 1.9 (12,370) | 25% | 152 | 6.3 |
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D | BV | 1.8 (10,900) | -44% | 168 | 5.9 |
Employee of the Month | Lions Gate | 1.6 (1,060) | -45% | 1478 | 26.2 |
One Night with the King | Gener8Xion | 1.5 (1,860) | -36% | 823 | 10 |
Texas Chainsaw: The Beginning | New Line | 1.2 (610) | -68% | 2007 | 38.3 |
Facing the Giants | IDP | .78 (1,980) | 2% | 393 | 6.3 |
Jackass: Number Two | Par | .52 (730) | -66% | 710 | 72 |
Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $100.00 | x | x | x | |
% Change (Last Year) | x | 9% | x | x | x |
% Change (Last Week) | x | 0% | x | x | x |
Also debuting/expanding | |||||
Babel | Par Vantage | .36 (51,000) | x | 7 | 0.36 |
The Last King of Scotland | Fox Searchlight | .33 (3,490) | -23% | 95 | 2.4 |
Death of a President | Newmarket | .20 (1,610) | x | 122 | 0.2 |
Conversations with God | IDP | .14 (2,150) | x | 64 | 0.14 |
Shut Up & Sing | Weinstein Co. | 47,400 (11,850) | x | 4 | 0.05 |
The Bridge | First Stripe | 43,200 (2,400) | x | 18 | 0.04 |
Cocaine Cowboys | Magnolia | 32,600 (2,720) | x | 12 | 0.03 |
Color of the Cross | Rocky Mountain | 23,600 (815) | x | 29 | 0.02 |
Climates | Zeitgeist | 9,100 (9,100) | x | 1 | 0.01 |
Absolute Wilson | New Yorker | 4,900 (2,450) | x | 2 | 0.01 |
Top Limited Releases: To October 26, 2006
Title | Distributor | Gross |
An Inconvenient Truth | Par Classics | 23,802,206 |
Match Point | DmWks | 23,052,317 |
Deep Sea 3-D | WB | 20,168,478 |
Mrs. Henderson Presents | Weinstein Co. | 10,662,712 |
Scoop | Focus | 10,546,627 |
Bon Cop Bad Cop | Alliance | 10,206,438 |
Magnificent Desolation | Imax | 9,393,038 |
Transamerica | Weinstein Co. | 8,771,637 |
A Scanner Darkly | WIP | 5,501,616 |
Facing the Giants | IDP | 5,500,301 |
The World’s Fastest Indian | Magnolia | 5,128,124 |
Three Burials of Melquiades Estrada | Sony Classics | 4,996,040 |
Roving Mars | BV | 4,906,041 |
Wild Safari 3-D | nWave | 4,804,902 |
The Queen | Mrmx | 4,380,802 |
Keeping Up with the Steins | Mrmx | 4,354,174 |
The Science of Sleep | WIP/Seville | 4,245,872 |
The Nightmare Before Christmas 3-D | BV | 4,071,660 |
Cache (Hidden) | Sony Class/Alliance | 3,732,437 |
Kahbi Alvida Naa Kehna | Yash Raj | 3,275,443 |
* non greater than 565 playdates |
Domestic Market Share: To October 26, 2006
Distributor | Gross | Mktshr |
Sony (29) | 1336.2 | 18.10% |
Buena Vista (22) | 1256.6 | 17.00% |
Fox (22) | 1033.9 | 14.00% |
Paramount (14) | 775.8 | 10.50% |
Universal (18) | 762.1 | 10.30% |
Warner Bros. (18) | 759.1 | 10.20% |
Lions Gate (16) | 248.4 | 3.40% |
Weinstein Co. (13) | 225.2 | 3.00% |
New Line (11) | 203.9 | 2.80% |
Focus (11) | 172.4 | 2.30% |
Fox Searchlight (11) | 158.5 | 2.10% |
MGM (5) | 88.2 | 1.20% |
Sony Classics (20) | 52.6 | 0.70% |
FreeStyle (8) | 51.6 | 0.70% |
Other * (240) | 275.1 | 3.70% |
* none greater than 0.45% | 7399.6 | 100.00% |