Box Office Breakdown: Dawn Treader Sails Past Depp, Jolie

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Music, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

The Chronicles of Narnia: The Voyage of the Dawn Treader sailed to a first place finish this weekend despite a lackluster start. The latest C.S. Lewis adaptation – which was produced for an estimated $145 million – earned only $24 million in domestic sales. That figure is $31 million less than Prince Caspian’s debut and approximately $41 million below The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe’s premiere.

Landing into second place was The Tourist, which rang in a disappointing $16.5 million. Although the film boasted two big A-list stars (Johnny Depp and Angelina Jolie), the thriller turned in Depp’s smallest open for a wide release since 1999’s The Astronaut’s Wife.

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Box Office Breakdown: Tangled Climbs Above Potter

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

You can’t keep a good woman with long locks down.

Despite initially debuting in second place, Tangled reached new heights this week. The Disney feature climbed out of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallow’s shadow to take the box office crown.

Tangled is now the second film this year to move up the ladder to the #1 spot. Another animated featured, How to Train Your Dragon, was the first.

The chart’s only new wide release, The Warrior’s Way, will likely fall out of the Top Ten by Week 2. The actioner starring Jang Dong-gun, Kate Bosworth and Geoffrey Rush started its run in ninth place.

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Box Office Breakdown: Deathly Hallows Avoids Getting Tangled

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Family, Musicals, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Tangled's tresses weren't quite long enough to get past the Deathly Hallows last weekend.

Despite a $48.8 million debut ($68.7 million since Wednesday), Disney's latest animated feature found itself in a tight race. The film starring Mandy Moore and Zachary Levi landed firmly into second place -- approximately $300,000 shy of two-time winner Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows.

Burlesque, featuring Christina Aguilera and Cher, rang up $11.9 million in ticket sales and a fourth-place finish. Although that figure isn't exactly something to brag about, it does represent Cher's biggest opening to date.

Promises of nudity couldn't get Love and Other Drugs into the Top 5. The Anne Hathaway/Jake Gyllenhaal movie earned less than $10 million and a sixth place debut. Meanwhile, Faster -- starring Dwayne "The Rock" Johnson and Billy Bob Thornton -- grossed $8.5 million for seventh place.

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Box Office Breakdown: Harry Potter Breaks Franchise Record

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, DreamWorks, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Biopics, Drama, Family, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part 1 set a new record for the franchise this weekend – without the help of any 3-D prices.

The penultimate film in the series took in a magical $125 million, beating the previous mark set by 2005’s Goblet of Fire (which debuted to $102.7 million). The movie, which more than doubled what the other Top 10 entries did combined, also found itself ranked sixth on the all-time openers list.

In comparison, Paul Haggis’ The Next Three Days did about 5% of what Harry Potter accomplished. That’s the smallest open for Russell Crowe since 2006’s A Good Year.

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Box Office Breakdown: Megamind is Unstoppable

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: DreamWorks, Lionsgate, Paramount, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Documentary, Drama, Family, Horror, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Denzel Washington and Chris Pine could do nothing but watch Megamind speed past them at the box office.

Despite an early lead for the action film, Unstoppable lost a bit of steam. The movie, which opened to $8.1 million on Friday, slowed to a $22.7 million take and second place-finish by Monday. Of the five films Tony Scott has directed Washington in, this movie – also starring Chris Pine – debuted in the middle of the pack.

Two other wide releases found themselves perched in the Top 10 this weekend. Universal’s sci-fi entry, Skyline, dialed up $11.7 million for fourth place. Meanwhile, Morning Glory, starring Rachel McAdams, Harrison Ford and Diane Keaton, produced $9.2 million ($11.8 million since Wednesday) – enough for fifth place.

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Box Office Breakdown: Megamind Opens Large with $46 Million

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: DreamWorks, Disney, Fox Searchlight, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Biopics, Drama, Family, Horror, Period, Sequels, Comedy, Sports, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Will Ferrell, Zach Galifianakis and Tyler Perry contributed to one of the largest November weekends in box office history.

Megamind – starring Ferrell, Tina Fey and Brad Pitt – topped the competition this weekend with a $46 million take. The animated comedy opened bigger than How to Train Your Dragon – another Paramount/Dreamworks collaboration – did in March ($43.7 million), but smaller than Despicable Me ($56.4 million) did in July.

Todd Phillips’ Due Date, featuring Galifianakis and Robert Downey Jr., also had an impressive open despite landing into second place. The movie, which grossed $32.7 million, had the largest premiere for any R-rated flick in November. (The movie bested the record set by Borat’s $26.4 million in 2006.) The film, though, fell behind The Hangover’s $45 million open in 2009.

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In Theaters This Weekend: November 5, 2010

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: DreamWorks, IFC Films, Magnolia, Lionsgate, Warner Bros, Action, Animation, Biopics, Documentary, Drama, Family, Foreign, Horror, Independent, Musicals, Comedy, Thrillers, Lists, New Releases, Trailers,

Here are a few selections in theaters this weekend:

• Due Date (R): starring Robert Downey Jr., Zach Galifianakis, Michelle Monaghan (directed by Todd Phillips)
• For Colored Girls (R): starring nika Noni Rose, Kerry Washington, Janet Jackson (directed by Tyler Perry)
• Megamind (PG): starring Will Ferrell, Brad Pitt, Tina Fey (directed by Tom McGrath)
• 127 Hours* (R): starring James Franco, Lizzy Caplan, Kate Mara (directed by Danny Boyle)
• Beneath the Dark* (NR): starring Josh Stewart, Jamie-Lynn Sigler (directed by Chad Feehan)

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Box Office Breakdown: The Day The Earth Stood Still Stands Tall

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Adventure, Animation, Drama, Family, Period, Political, Romance, Science Fiction, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

Mediocre reviews couldn’t keep The Day the Earth Stood Still from vaulting into first place this weekend.

The sci-fi remake starring Keanu Reeves and Jennifer Connelly earned $30.5 million over the last three days, more than doubling the take of its nearest competitor. Although Earth had the smallest debut for a #1 film since October 17th (when Max Payne grossed $17.6 million), the Fox feature only cost a reported $80 million to make. It was also the studio’s best open since Horton Hears a Who unfolded in back in March.

The only other new entries in this week’s Top Ten were Nothing Like the Holidays and Milk. Holidays took in $3.5 million and scored itself a 7th place finish. Meanwhile, Milk - which had actually reached #10 before - reentered the charts at #9.

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Box Office Breakdown: Another Festive Weekend for Four Christmases

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, Disney, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Music, Period, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Box Office, Lists,

Faced with little competition, last week’s #1 lived to see another win. Four Christmases took in $16.8 million over the last three days - a 46% drop from its first outing - to bring its cumulative total to $69.8 million. The comedy was only one of two films to pass the $10 million mark this weekend.

The only new entries in the Top Ten were Cadillac Records and Punisher: War Zone. Despite a relatively small opening (it only hit 687 theaters), Cadillac averaged $5,015 per theater for a 9th place finish. Meanwhile, Punisher took in a disappointing $4.3 million, less than 1/3 of what the first film did in 2004.

Despite premiering at #22, Frost/Nixon was actually this weekend’s top performer. Ron Howard’s film earned a whopping $60,236 per screen average from only 3 theaters.

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Box Office Breakdown: Number One for Four Christmases

Posted by Veronica Santiago Categories: 20th Century Fox, FOCUS, Disney, Miramax, Lionsgate, Paramount, Sony, Universal, Warner Bros, Action, Adaptation, Animation, Drama, Family, Independent, Period, Political, Romance, Sequels, Comedy, Thrillers, Box Office, Lists,

Theatergoers still recovering from Thanksgiving had no problem getting into the Christmas spirit this last weekend.

Despite horrible reviews, Four Christmases - a holiday feature starring Reese Witherspoon and Vince Vaughn - managed to pull in over $31 million over the past three days. (The comedy’s five-day total was $46 million.) That was enough to tame some hungry vampires and give Reese her best opening since Sweet Home Alabama. (The 2002 film had a $35.6 million debut.)

But even with Witherspoon and Vaughn’s combined wattage, Christmases still wasn’t the brightest spot on the box office tree. This weekend’s top performer was actually a political drama with a very limited release. Although it was only seen in 35 theaters, Milk, starring Sean Penn and James Franco, found itself sitting in 10th place. The Gus Van Sant film also averaged $40,385 per theater…nearly $31,000 more than the laugher did per screen.

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Read More | Variety