By Leonard Klady Klady@moviecitynews.com
Caspian Sees Wave…
The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian crested with an estimated $56.7 million to rank as the weekend’s top movie attraction. The anticipated commercial potency of the franchise had competitors large and small avoiding a head on and giving the youth appeal adventure a clear shot among debuting national releases.
Debuting niche and regional newcomers were eclectic including an 84 print launch for the Hispanic targeted How the Garcia Girls Spent Their Summer that barely managed to generate a $1,000 per engagement average. In QuebecLa Piege Americain had a passable $980,000 box office at 44 venues and the Bollywood entry Jannat was soft with a $26,600 tally from 17 outlets. Exclusives proved more potent with the Norweigan import Reprise grossing $46,500 from three playdates and Mexico’s Sangre de mi Sangre generating $8,500 from a single screen.
Despite a strong bow for Prince Caspian, its box office was dwarfed by last year’s $121.6 million preem of Shrek the Third and that translated into a significant overall box office drop.
The second installment of C.S. Lewis’s Narnia screen adaptations entered the marketplace with high expectations with some industry trackers predicting out-sized figures of between $85 million and $90 million that say more about methodology than results. More level heads anticipated a $65 million opening comparable to the first episode’s gross in December 2005.
While there’s an argument to be made that the film’s debut was disappointing in light of expectations, the strategic placement in the summer schedule could well pay off in the coming weeks. The teens and tweens that account for the series core appeal are still largely in school – roughly 85% – but that number will drop to less than 50% by June and next weekend’s Memorial holiday 4-day could generate comparable returns.
Internationally Prince Caspian launched in 12 countries including Mexico where it grossed $5.2 million of an estimated $20.7 million aggregate. It also bowed in Korea and Russia and secondary markets largely in Asia. Buena Vista International president Mark Zoradi noted that the film debuted 27% higher overall in those initial territories.
Holdovers generally experienced 30% to 40% drops with more severe erosion for the likes of Speed Racer and Redbelt. With a string of high profile movies in the wings the marketplace experienced considerable thinning among national releases with a mere 11 grossing in excess of $500,000 for the frame.
Weekend box office was inching toward $130 million for a modest 4% boost from seven days earlier. As noted 2007’s Shrek 3 was impossible to top and grosses overall fell 29% by comparison.
Weekend Estimates – May 16-18, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross (average) | % chng | Theas | Cume |
| Prince Caspian | BV | 56.7 (14,420) | 3929 | 56.7 | |
| Iron Man | Par | 31.0 (7,460) | -39% | 4154 | 222.3 |
| What Happens in Vegas | Fox | 13.9 (4,270) | -31% | 3255 | 40.4 |
| Speed Racer | WB | 7.7 (2,140) | -58% | 3606 | 29.9 |
| Made of Honor | Sony | 4.6 (1,620) | -44% | 2816 | 33.8 |
| Baby Mama | Uni | 4.5 (1,810) | -27% | 2503 | 47.2 |
| Forgetting Sarah Marshall | Uni | 2.6 (1,610) | -33% | 1601 | 55.1 |
| Harold & Kumar 2 | WB | 1.8 (1,300) | -41% | 1403 | 33.9 |
| Forbidden Kingdom | Lions Gate | 1.0 (980) | -55% | 997 | 50.3 |
| The Visitor | Overture | .67 (2,990) | -8% | 224 | 3.4 |
| Nim’s Island | Fox | .53 (590) | -64% | 894 | 45.2 |
| Prom Night | Sony/Alliance | .45 (790) | -56% | 567 | 43.5 |
| Then She Found Me | Thinkfilm/TVA | .39 (3,120) | -17% | 125 | 1.4 |
| 21 | Sony | .38 (860) | -55% | 444 | 81.1 |
| Young@Heart | Fox Searchlight | .34 (2,010) | -12% | 170 | 1.9 |
| Redbelt | Sony Classics | .33 (350) | -68% | 932 | 1.9 |
| Horton Hears a Who | Fox | .32 (770) | -48% | 415 | 151.2 |
| Weekend Total ($500,000+ Films) | $125.00 | – | – | – | |
| % Change (Last Year) | – | -29% | – | – | – |
| % Change (Last Week) | – | 4% | – | – | – |
| Also debuting/expanding | |||||
| Son of Rambow | Par Vantage | .23 (2,550) | 51% | 91 | 0.52 |
| La Piege Americain | Alliance | .1 (2,250) | – | 44 | 0.1 |
| How the Garcia Girls Spent Their S | Alliance | 84,300 (1,040) | – | 84 | 0.08 |
| Reprise | Miramax | 46,500 (15,500) | – | 3 | 0.05 |
| Jannat | Shemaroo | 26,600 (1,570) | – | 17 | 0.03 |
| Sangre de mi Sangre | IFC | 8,500 (8,500) | – | 1 | 0.01 |
| Yella | Cinema Guild | 6,900 (3,450) | – | 2 | 0.01 |
| Edge of Heaven * | – | – | – | – | – |
Domestic Market Share – To May 15, 2008
| Distributor (releases) | Gross | Market Share |
| Fox (12) | 532.1 | 17.20% |
| Warner Bros. (14) | 437.7 | 14.10% |
| Paramount (9) | 431.1 | 13.90% |
| Sony (14) | 363.5 | 11.70% |
| Buena Vista (8) | 272.2 | 8.80% |
| Universal (9) | 254.1 | 8.20% |
| Lions Gate (8) | 199.9 | 6.40% |
| Fox Searchlight (5) | 147.9 | 4.80% |
| Par Vantage (8) | 69.9 | 2.30% |
| New Line (4) | 61.8 | 2.00% |
| Focus (4) | 59.6 | 1.90% |
| Miramax (4) | 47.3 | 1.50% |
| MGM (9) | 46.1 | 1.50% |
| Summit (2) | 34.7 | 1.10% |
| Overture (3) | 23.5 | 0.80% |
| Other * (133) | 118.1 | 3.80% |
| * none greater than 0.55% | 3099.5 | 100.00% |
Top Global Grossers – To May 15, 2008
| Title | Distributor | Gross |
| Iron Man | Par | 381,951,713 |
| Horton Hears a Who | Fox | 289,915,034 |
| 10,000 B.C. | WB | 267,200,300 |
| I Am Legend * | WB | 250,954,579 |
| Jumper | Fox | 211,531,632 |
| Juno * | Fox/Mandate | 199,452,286 |
| Bienvenue Chez les Ch’tis | Pathe | 198,054,681 |
| Cloverfield | Par | 169,710,890 |
| National Treasure: Book of Secrets | BV | 168,113,955 |
| The Bucket List | WB | 163,026,520 |
| Alvin and the Chipmunks * | Fox | 162,328,406 |
| The Spiderwick Chronicles | Par | 160,593,212 |
| 27 Dresses | Fox/Spyglass | 153,852,373 |
| Vantage Point | Sony | 151,162,895 |
| Step Up 2: The Streets | BV/Summit | 143,673,250 |
| Asterix aux jeux Olympiques | Pathe | 131,462,687 |
| Sweeney Todd * | Par/WB | 126,172,473 |
| 21 | Sony | 122,671,389 |
| P.S. I Love You * | WB/Summit | 117,099,782 |
| No Country for Old Men * | Miramax/Par Int | 116,882,361 |
| Fool’s Gold | WB | 105,932,915 |
| Enchanted * | BV | 105,273,924 |
| Rambo | Lions Gate/NuI | 104,753,184 |
| The Forbidden Kingdom | Lions Gate/Wei | 97,146,975 |
| The Golden Compass * | NLC | 93,863,603 |
| * does not include 2007 box office | ||
