Weekend Box Office: The Meltdown of the Ice Age continues into a 2nd weekend!

[The Clown Prince]

For a second straight weekend, Ice Age: The Meltdown dominated the box office dropping 49% from last week earning $34.5 million and $116.4 million in two weeks.

Opening in second place without having been screened for critics was The Benchwarmers with $20.5 million.

Antonio Banderas whooping it up on Saturday Night Live last night helping to promote Take the Lead helped earn him a third place spot in it's debut with $12.7 million.

Dropping two spots to fourth was Inside Man with $9.1 million and a $66 million total.

For some reason I missed that Lucky Number Slevin was opening this week. It rounds out the top 5 in it's debut with $7.1 million in 1,984 theaters.

Also opening this week was Phat Girlz which debuted in ninth place with $3.1 million.

Out of the top 12 this week is Slither (13th) which only last week opened in eighth place. Also gone are Larry the Cable Guy: Health Inspector (14th), The Shaggy Dog (15th), and The Hills Have Eyes (16th).

Next week two new movies open up. First up is Disney's new CG movie The Wild (http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=5672) (rated G) and starring the voices of Kiefer Sutherland, Greg Cipes, Jim Belushi, Janeane Garofalo, Richard Kind, William Shatner, and Eddie Izzard.

And the other new movie of the weekend is Scary Movie 4 (http://www.comingsoon.net/films.php?id=9784) (rated PG-13) with
Anna Faris, Regina Hall, Craig Bierko, Leslie Nielsen, Carmen Electra, Shaquille O'Neal, Dr. Phil, Bill Pullman, Chris Elliot, Molly Shannon, Michael Madsen, Chingy, and Lil' John.

Here are your numbers...


1) Ice Age: The Meltdown- $34,500,000 ($116,428,000)
2) The Benchwarmers- $20,500,000 ($20,500,000) NEW!
3) Take the Lead- $12,775,000 ($12,775,000) NEW!
4) Inside Man- $9,174,000 ($66,056,000)
5) Lucky Number Slevin- $7,130,000 ($7,130,000) NEW!
6) Failure to Launch- $4,107,000 ($79,121,000)
7) ATL- $3,750,000 ($17,255,000)
8) V for Vendetta- $3,365,000 ($62,257,000)
9) Phat Girlz- $3,100,000 ($3,100,000) NEW!
10) Thank You for Smoking- $2,400,000 ($6,284,000)
11) Stay Alive- $2,156,000 ($20,440,000)
12) She's the Man- $2,149,000 ($29,790,000)

The Clown Prince

[Lord Dalek]

Scary Movie 4 will be #1 next week but will do about as unspectacularly as every other film this year not titled Ice Age 2: The Meltdown.

Unless Disney pulls a dark horse with this film I was completely unaware of up until TCP posted about it.

[Ultra Mike]

I don't know about that Lord Dalek. I have a feeling that either The Wild of Ice Age 2 will be tops this weekend. But I see your point on Scary Movie 4 doing the same like every other movie (I'll be seeing SM4 though next weekend though unlike every other movie this year besides V For Vendetta). But I'm glad Ice Age 2 Is still doing well since I heard it was fairly decent.

[Discloner]

I don't suspect The Wild will do all that great. Already I hear moans and groans about it being a Madagascar rip-off (despite the fact that it was in production long before Madagascar was), so people already dislike it for that. I myself just don't think it looks like a very good movie. The CGI has an odd blend of realism and style that seems strange to me (this coming from the guy who defended The Polar Express! :p). Also I've been hearing some rather bad buzz about it's story, from the lack of a toy manufacturer to Disney's extreme underpromotion of the flick (since when has Disney not promoted an animated flick? Even Valiant was overpromoted!).

I'm betting on Scary Movie 4 or Ice Age 2 next week. Probably the prior.

[Lord Dalek]

I don't know about that Lord Dalek. I have a feeling that either The Wild of Ice Age 2 will be tops this weekend. But I see your point on Scary Movie 4 doing the same like every other movie (I'll be seeing SM4 though next weekend though unlike every other movie this year besides V For Vendetta). But I'm glad Ice Age 2 Is still doing well since I heard it was fairly decent.Well the thing is both films (The Wild and Ice Age) are probably too similar to each other to establish a firm hold on the BO. What will likely happen then will be SM4 making 25-30 million to take the #1 and the other two fighting out for #2 with 15-20 million a piece.

As for Silent Hill next Friday well... I just don't see it generating any interest. V For Vendetta at least had some buzz and even that hasn't turned a profit. It might be a good movie but there's just nothing out there to get mass ammounts of people (I'm talking Matrix or Hannibal numbers here) and I don't know who's fault that is.

In all likely hood you'll see very similar numbers coming in up until MI:III.

[Speedy Boris]

I WOULD go see "Thank You For Smoking" but it's not playing in any cinemas near me. On the other hand, we've got plenty of "The Benchwarmers". :shrug:

[Hades]

How did V for Vendetta get defeated by such garbage as Benchwarmers???????????? That is just blasphemas!!

As for Silent Hill next Friday well... I just don't see it generating any interest. V For Vendetta at least had some buzz and even that hasn't turned a profit. It might be a good movie but there's just nothing out there to get mass ammounts of people (I'm talking Matrix or Hannibal numbers here) and I don't know who's fault that is.

In all likely hood you'll see very similar numbers coming in up until MI:III.

Uh, I doubt WB would consider V a failure since it I'm sure it has made more than they expected. Besides, it can't be helped when you have fanboys listening to a whinny idjit complaining about how it, "bastardizes my work" crap going on. The point of the movie is to play out as a movie, NOT the comic. IF you want the comic, you read the comic.

As for Silent Hill, it is a video game movie, and one that looks fantastic. I'm quite sure it will be either 1 or 2 on its opening weekend.

Oh, and if MI3 makes a lot of money, then this country is in serious need of schooling. Not only does it look awful, but Cruise is a terrible actor and needs to learn looks aren't going to keep him in business forever. Soon he'll have to actually ACT to get roles.

[Lord Dalek]

How did V for Vendetta get defeated by such garbage as Benchwarmers???????????? That is just blasphemas!!It was defeated by the same people who made sure your film did marginally better than Phat Girlz. You should thank them really.

[RD!]

I understand movies.:confused:

[Lord Dalek]

Uh, I doubt WB would consider V a failure since it I'm sure it has made more than they expected.They will consider it a failure until it has turned a profit. And, it still hasn't; $80 million in the US is the magic number, probably much more in other countries and that's to offset the cost of publicity. It's a "there is nothing stopping me from waiting to rent this" kind of a film and the numbers show it. Heck I haven't seen the film yet because my financial aid check is still in progress. Do I care? NO! Will I see it eventually on my dvd-rom? YES! Did I say the same thing after Serenity came and went? You bet! Have I seen Serenity yet? Well that's not the point. The point is it will make a profit but only through home video. Constantine did the same thing.

[ManicWebb]

They will consider it a failure until it has turned a profit. And, it still hasn't; $80 million in the US is the magic number, probably much more in other countries and that's to offset the cost of publicity. It's a "there is nothing stopping me from waiting to rent this" kind of a film and the numbers show it. Heck I haven't seen the film yet because my financial aid check is still in progress. Do I care? NO! Will I see it eventually on my dvd-rom? YES! Did I say the same thing after Serenity came and went? You bet! Have I seen Serenity yet? Well that's not the point. The point is it will make a profit but only through home video. Constantine did the same thing.
V for Vendetta had a budget of $80 million? I thought it looked slightly cheaper.

[Lord Dalek]

V for Vendetta had a budget of $80 million? I thought it looked slightly cheaper.The production cost was $50 million and they have made that back. As I said in the original post, the extra money is to offset the cost of promoting the film.

[ManicWebb]

I need to get into promotions and publicity. Imagine being one of the people in charge of promoting V. "Uh... we're going to need $30 million... for advertising. And beer. And my new boat."

[Sigma]

It's sad to see Slither drop off the top ten so fast. It would have done much better if it were released around Halloween. If you haven't seen it, make sure you check it out soon before it leaves theaters or check it out on DVD because it was an excellent film and one of the best horror films I have seen released in U.S. theaters in awhile.

[The Landstander]

I haven't caught it yet (not playing near me) but Thank You For Smoking looks smart and funny and I'm glad it has the makings of a sleeper/DVD hit.

Also, I remember hearing on a few occasions that with all the various finances that go into a movie, a comparison of production budget and US gross gives a decently good ballpark of how the movie is doing. In that respect I'd say V for Vendetta is probably mildly profitable (though I'd also bet below expectations).

[Martianinvader]

As anyone knows, the Silent Hill series is the scariest video game series of all. If they stay true to the material, this could be one impressively scary movie. I haven't seen enough of the monsters in the trailers to tell....

"I am the REAPER!!" --little girl :p

[Baltofan]

Ice Age: The Meltdown is #1 in Denmark too!
My guess for next week:

#1 Ice Age
#2 Scary Movie 4
#3 The Wild

[Spider-Man]

It's sad to see Slither drop off the top ten so fast. It would have done much better if it were released around Halloween. If you haven't seen it, make sure you check it out soon before it leaves theaters or check it out on DVD because it was an excellent film and one of the best horror films I have seen released in U.S. theaters in awhile.
It is disappointing to see a fun movie like this do poorly. I took some friends to see it (my second time) and they all enjoyed it as much as I did but I doubt it'll still be in theatres by the next weekend with that new Disney movie opening. I'm sure this movie will make a quick jump to DVD. I'm not surprised it has done poorly but it just would have been nice to see it make a nice amount of money. Easily one of the better films of the year.

[Ajax]

How did V for Vendetta get defeated by such garbage as Benchwarmers???????????? That is just blasphemas!!Wait, aren't you the guy who thinks the Resident Evil movies are good? Pfff....and your calling Benchwarmers garbage.

[ManicWebb]

Yeah! Benchwarmers is a quality movie starring David Spade, Jon Heder, and... and-- LOL!

Sorry, couldn't keep a straight face.