Sister boy, your act has worn thin. Go get laid for Christ's sake.

Thats quite a small Sunday drop for Jarhead, dont think thats gonna happen.

Longest Yard had a lot of kids appeal

ROTS did have kids appeal from a first glance, but because it didn't have that much in reality it didn't have the legs it deserved.

Sith appealed to everyone, including the kids. Not so sure about The Longest yard having small children appeal, but even if it did, the point still stands. If a movie doesn't appeal to the younglings, it'll have a hell of a time opening over 40 million.

Attacking my masculinity? How surprisingly grade school of you! I'd be lying if I said I wasn't expecting a doo-doo joke.

Talking of thinning acts, how's the band coming along?

Nice for SAW and Flightplan.
As for Chicken Little. Its an ok start but isnt that the first CGI Trickmovie Disney is making without the support of PIXAR??? So when I watch at a 70 opening of Incredibles I dont know if it is so good. And I think the Magic kids from Hogward will kill that chicken and have some nuggets for lunch....so means hard drops coming.

What masculinity? Delusions of grandeur, sister boy, because you ain't got none.

Damn how did JARHEAD cost $72M? That was a big risk if you ask me. Luckily it done very well.

Awesome for CHICKEN LITTLE. SAW 2. PRIME. DREAMER. FLIGHTPLAN.


Saw 2: $60,468,000.....!!!! Jesus!! :):).

The Fog is sitting at $28,031,000 after a $2M 4th weekend....can it pass $30M?

Well, think about it. Ever since The Incredibles, what's the highest CGI kids flick opening? Madagascar with around $47 million, I believe. Robots opened to $36 million. So, there's obviously something in the name "Pixar," but in general, there is a downward trend for non-Pixar films.

I think it's a solid number.

Jarhead dropped a bit. Maybe I expected it to get 30 million considering its 10 million opener. But I do see how this is not necessarily a Sunday afternoon type movie. Chicken little PTA surprised me. I expected about 12,000 pta from Jarhead, but far less from Little (maybe 8 or 9, since it only had 2.5 on Friday). Once again, mediocrity is supported. And we ask why Hollywood keeps whipping out movies like this.


Decent hold for a movie that didn't open all too strongly.


Not as good as i had hoped. Good Night and Good Luck didn't hold that well under large expansion. I was hoping more for 5.5 or 6 thousand pta. Is this considered a decent hold? I don't know.


Decent hold, but really uninspiring. I still really want to see this, and I guess I'm wondering why it didn't perform all that well. Would have been stronger if released during the holiday season I'm guessing.


Wow! Huge expansion and huge pta considering the marketing and theme of the movie. This is one to watch closely in the next few weeks. Could this mean something for Daines?


Excellent hold and pta. This movie is having a much more inspired run than I had expected. I thought they were being miserly with the theatre expansion, but it seems to really be working well!


Not very good considering its in its third week, and cost 15 million to make and promote.


I guess people still really want to see Antonioni! Ah...gotta love those Italians even when watching one of their mediocre movies. I guess its something of an aura?

It's an excellent hold considering its theatre count rose by over 150%.

First $40 million + opening since...

Charlie in mid July?

It's been far too long this year.

dolce, CL kind of movies are for families. I see family movies (barring one overrated animated studio) consistenly blasted on internet boards like KJ. The people putting these movies down are consistently surprised at their success. What you consider mediocre is not necessarily so for the audiences, given the performance of these movies.

Films that are big college campus drop little on Sunday. Black Hawk Down dropped only 14% on its first wide release Sunday (Jan 20, so not like a holiday help either). Remember the small drop Waiting had each Sunday. 25% is quite reasonable for Jarhead, IMO.

Wouldn't January 20 be in the Martin Luther King weekend?

But, anyways, I agree that Jarhead's Sunday drop is reasonable.

Eh, it's the "full house" syndrome. Was anyone else here raised on this story? A man complains his house is too small for his wife and kids, and the local sage tells him that if he brings the in-laws in, it will remedy the situation. When he does so, he feels even more cramped, and goes to the sage again. The sage tells him to bring in the cow. When that doesn't help, the sage tells him to bring in the chickens, sheep, etc. Finally the man had a breakdown over how cramped his life is, and the sage tells him to kick everyone out except the wife and kids. When the man does so, he loves how much space he has and thanks the sage profusely.

If you see shitty movie after shitty movie every weekend, sure Robots is going to seem like Citizen Kane by the time Chicken Little comes around, and that will seem like Gilda when the next movie comes knocking. People don't realize that even their "fun escape" forms their attention span, tastes, and storyline demands. The trailer for CL looked to me like an hour and a half of Saturday morning cartoons. Seeing as how that's what most kids get slapped in front of nowadays, i have no doubt they considered the feature length version to be up to their quality. But to me, the family should have just sat in front of the tube then, and saved themselves the 44 bucks.

Hmm, you're right.

My Weekend Analysis


Despite some negative buzz prior to the movie's release Chicken Little still opened above most people's expectations. It is unlikely that it's weekend gross of just above $40 million will stand once the actuals are released, it is still a very decent opening for a family flick with such ghastly reviews. It opened a notch better than Robots earlier this year, even though the latter movie opened in more theatres and to somewhat better reviews. The G-rating as well as the Saturday rise of over 60% idicate that this movie is mostly targeted at the youngest audiences and that should ensure it a decent run. Its legs, however, are going to be cut short by the releases of Zathura and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. However, Chicken Little will still be the only animated flick throughout November and the only one targeting the really young audiences and that should help it to keep rather decent legs. Last year, The Incredibles opened to splendid reviews and WoM, but its legs were significantly hurt by the subsequent releases of two other animated flicks: The Polar Express and Spongebob. I see Chicken Little lasting well throughout Thanksgiving until Narnia will ultimately kill it. As of now, a total gross of around $145-150 million looks likely.


Jarhead has opened really really well for a war-themed flick, but to be honest the opening didn't blow anyone away. The opening weekend of Jarhead is strikingly similar to the opening of Black Hawk Down which made $28.6 million on its first weekend in wide release, back in January 2002. The actuals might put Jarhead's opening even below that. Nonetheless, the 2nd/3rd best opening for a war movie ever is nothing short of impressive, especially considering that it opened it just 2,411 theatres (almost 700 less than BHD) and easily outdid the openings of such movies as Windtalkers, We Were Soldiers and Tears of the Sun. Already The Great Raid earlier this year has shown that there is a demand for male-adult-oriented flicks. Jarhead's success however can be attributed to the fact that the interest for it extended past the adult moviegoers all the way to younger audiences. That would explain the Friday frontloading, leading to a drop on Saturday. Since the trailers and TV spots of this movie has been rather misleading, I think we can just expect rather mixed WoM for this one, not ensuring it legs of an Oscar-contender. Still, the legs should be at least decent since it's the only movie targeting male adults exclusively for quite a while. I see a total gross of around $90 million.


Saw II defied all expectations and proved itself to be a worthy successor to the overly successful original. Just like the original, it didn't drop off the face of earth in its second weekend despite being an R-rated and anticipated horror flick released on the Halloween weekend. In its second weekend it dropped just around 46% (the original dropped 39%). However, the original's second weekend drop was also its best drop for the rest of the run and I don't think it will be much different here. One thing helping Saw II, though is that there is no big horror holdover like The Grudge to fight against and there is no Seed of Chucky coming out in November this time. It will be close for the title of the biggest flick of the fall season between Saw II and Flightplan and only the next weekend might tell us the future prospects of both. As of now, it seems like Saw II will collect around $92 million before leaving the theatres.


The Legend of Zorro had a very decent hold that can be attributed to its family-oriented nature and the PG-rating. It certainly did take a hit from Chicken Little, but apparently it didn't hurt it much. Next weekend, Zathura should hit it harder since it is more targeting its demographics and then Harry Potter should destroy it. Still, the movie is on its way to a pretty good total gross of around $52 million.


Prime delivered the biggest insane surprise of the weekend. The Uma Thurman/Meryl Streep starrer dropped just a miniscule 15% in its second weekend despite starting off with an unimpressing PTA to begin with. I think this amazing hold simply shows that there is an utter lack of good romcoms/date flicks in the marketplace right now. At least it somehow makes up for the disappointments/failures of other female-oritned flicks throughout October, like In Her Shoes, Elizabethtown and North Country. In its second weekend Prime's PTA is already better than the 2nd-weekend PTA of In Her Shoes or Elizabethtown or even the first weekend PTA of North Country. All signs point that a date flick released at the right moment now, could make some good money. This bodes well for the upcoming release of Just Friends over the Thanksgiving weekend. I am not sure whether the excellent holds of Prime will hold on, but it should at least end its run pretty gracefully with a total gross of around $26 million.


Dakota Fanning once again proves that she's good at picking her movies. Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story once again had a good hold this weekend, dropping under 25%. It seems to have been unaffected by Chicken Little's humongous opening. Its hold plaes in comparison to Prime and Flightplan of course, but considering it had almost direct competition, it's still a pretty good one. Expect a total gross of around $37 million.


Good Night, and Good Luck has had an excellent expansion which I expect to be followed by another one next weekend, this time into 800+ theatres. It should have good holds throughout November and with Jarhead out of the Oscar race, it just increases this movie's chances at some awards. The additional buzz can only help it. The gross becomes even more impressive considering the movie is black 'n white. I'm still not sure where this path is leading, but the total gross should be $25+ million.


Nicholas Cage's The Weather Man is showing some nice legs as well, too bad its too late. The lightning didn't strike three times for Gore Verbinski as his latest flick is looking at a final gross of around $13-14 million. The main problem of this movie seems to have been that the studio couldn't decide whether to market this as a comedy or as a drama. The R-rating didn't help the cause either.


Shopgirl had an excellent expansion as well. It's funny to see two movies in the Top 10 with less than 700 theatres. When was the last time that happened? Shopgirl's strong PTA of over $5,000 along with Prime's excellent hold is showing the lack of romcoms in the marketplace. Unlikely to garner much Oscar buzz now, the movie won't have excellent legs, but considering the strong PTA, subsequent expansions will follow, giving it a total of $15-20 million it seems, maybe even more.


Flightplan could hold on to a spot in the Top 10 for the 7th week straight and is now the closest to $100 million movie of the year that didn't actually cross the mark. Until now, we didn't have a single movie this year that made anything between $85 million and $100 million. With Flightplan, Saw II and Jarhead we seem to be getting three of those at once. Flightplan looks to top out with around $89-90 million now. It will be a really tight race between it, Saw II and Jarhead.


North Country has dropped out of the Top 10 after just three weeks. Its run has been uneventful at best, ultimately destroying all its chances at some Oscar rewards. It looks to finish just below $20 million.


The Fog doesn't cease to amaze me. I simply can't understand this movie's run. It dropped well nin its second weekend, but over the Halloween weekend, it just died. Now that Halloween is over, it is having a decent hold again despite losing over 900 theatres. You could say the Zathura sneaks helped, but it had Zathura sneaks last weekend as well. It just baffles me. Still, one way or another, a total gross of about $30 million seems to be assured now.


Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit is the embarassement of the week with its 50+% drop. Seems like Chicken Little destroyed it completely. It dropped all the way from the 3rd spot last week to the 13th spot this week. Just bad. Watch and see it finishing with around $57-58 million in total.


Doom's drop has been relatively soft considering the loss of over 1,000 theatres. Still it has no chance of reaching a multiplier of 2 anymore and a total gross of $29 million seems likely.


Elizabethtown actually had a decent hold, but it's just way too late for this movie now. As I expected all the time before its release, it performed more closely to Almost Famous than to Jerry Maguire. Still sad that it is performing much better than the similarely-themed Garden State. Look for a total gross of about $28 million. There is actually a chance that Prime might outgross it. Hopefully.


Capote's slow expansion seems to be the right strategy for it, even though I think it's about time they put it in at least 300 theatres. It is a likely Oscar contender for the lead role, but it could still need some more exposure the improve the chances. As of now it seems like a gross of $10 million is in store for it, unless there is a singificant expansion planned.


We all agree that A History of Violence had a botched release pattern, but to be honest, in the end it still ended up with a very decent amount and is heading towards a total gross of around $32 million.




Feel free to agree or disagree or just ignore

No doubt 32 million is decent, especially for this director, whose movies usually don't even gross this much, but this could have easily been a 50-60 million dollar movie, possibly even more if marketed right. Words cannot describe how disgusted I am with the studio's marketing scheme.

Wow. What an amazing weekend. PRobably the best in about 3 months!

Chicken Little's gross is pretty damn good considering the $10m opening day.

Jarhead completely blew me away. I hadn't been following box office predictions, but I was seriously under the impression this would not gross more than $15-17 million for the weekend. What an amazing feat and it didn't have that high a theatre count.

I'm hearing that alot of people are liking it.
I want to see it so bad but stupid midterms won't let me have a night out for another week.

ALOT of the films had very decent drops. Looks like November has gotten off to a great start considering the rest of the year.
Aren't there like 4 high profile releases next week? Then Potter....

Full house was garbage.

An hour and a half of well made Saturday morning cartoons can be a lot of fun.

Better to spend 44 bucks on movies that everyone in the family can enjoy. The other options are pointless movies like Jarhead or trash like Saw II.

Lastly, animated movies (excluding the studio owned by the worthless version of Microsoft) have consistently defied the snobby internet board negativity and ignorance.

Is that almost a 4-multiplier for Chicken Little. What a good multiplier. Great PTA for Jarhead.

'Chicken Little' Can't Save Box Office
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20051106/ap_ ... box_office

LOS ANGELES - The sky is still falling in Hollywood, even though Chicken Little and the Marines have landed.

The box office tumbled again despite solid weekends for the animated "Chicken Little," which debuted with $40.1 million, and the Desert Storm drama "Jarhead," which opened with $28.8 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The films paced Hollywood to a healthy weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $121.2 million. Yet that was down 10 percent from the same weekend in 2004, when "The Incredibles" premiered with $70.5 million. This year's movie attendance is running 8 percent behind last year's.

Yadda yadda yadda

Better spend $100 bucks on movies like Saw II than $10 on bad CGI animated flicks.

Only a moron would propose taking a 4 year old to Saw II.