Weekend Box-Office Report thanks to JoBlo.
http://joblo.com/index.php?id=13442
I was watching an "Ali G" show marathon on TV last night, and after two hours of Ali G, Borat and Bruno, star Sacha Baron Cohen's three alter-egos, I couldn't help but re-acknowledge this man's pure genius. I honestly could not turn away from the television set (mind you, I was also high at the time, but that's another story altogether). Some are starting to compare him to comedian Andy Kaufman from the 70s, and I can see how those comparisons have come to be.
All that to say that BORAT, the film, opened in the #1 spot this past weekend, with close to $30M in receipts, despite the fact that it only played in about 800 theaters, compared to most films in the top 10, which play in over 2000 theaters. Next week, the film is supposed to widen its release into 2500 theaters, at which point, he will likely be certified as a complete phenomenon, that might even break the $100M mark (the film only cost $18M to make).
Disney's THE SANTA CLAUSE 3 finished in second place with a disappointing $20M, which is much lower than its previous incarnation of the Tim Allen character, which opened at $29M and went on to gross $140M (maybe the release of a Christmas movie one week after Halloween didn't make a whole lot of sense?). Dreamworks' animated FLUSHED AWAY opened with a decent $19M in third place, but according to Yahoo Movies, the film cost around $130M, so the opening isn't exactly a celebratory figure.
Last week's #1 movie, SAW 3, dropped an expected 50%+ and into fourth place, but still managed to add about $16M to its coffers, raising its total to about $60M to this point (considering that the film only cost about $10M to make, methinks everyone involved with this puppy is pretty happy these days). THE DEPARTED managed to continue its box-office roll with yet another $8M added to its total, which has now officially surpassed the $100M mark. The film only dropped about 18% of its audience from last week, and doesn't seem to want to stop anytime soon.
With its solid word of mouth, THE QUEEN (not a film about Elton John) managed to rise into the top 10 with $3M in receipts this past weekend, raising its total to $10M since its limited release about six weeks ago.
Next week sees the addition of 4 new movie releases including Batman starring in HARSH TIMES, Ricky Bobby starring in an original looking comedy entitled STRANGER THAN FICTION, the man with a temper who hates onliners starring in A GOOD YEAR and Sarah Michelle Gellar starring in THE GRUDGE 3, I mean...THE RETURN. By the way, what's your take on the whole BORAT success? VOTE HERE!!
1. Borat $ 26.4 Million NEW
2. The Santa Clause 3:... $ 20 Million NEW
3. Flushed Away $ 19.1 Million NEW
4. Saw 3 $ 15.5 Million $ 60.1 Million
5. The Departed $ 8 Million $ 102.3 Million
6. The Prestige $ 7.8 Million $ 39.4 Million
7. Flags of our Fathers $ 4.5 Million $ 26.6 Million
8. Man of the Year $ 3.8 Million $ 34 Million
9. Open Season $ 3.1 Million $ 81.4 Million
10. The Queen $ 3 Million $ 10.1 Million