(Source: Box Office Mojo)
I've said it before and I will say it again; September is a lousy time for movies. This is when the studios dump all the flicks they've committed to, but figure won't do all that well at the box office. It also shows how much confidence Fox has in their animated offering Everyone's Hero that the studio released it during this time period. Not even the news that this was Christopher (Superman) Reeve's last film was enough to excite the suits at Fox.
That lack of confidence was justified when Everyone's Hero took a paltry $6,061,762 in its first weekend in theatres. However, that was enough to put the flick in the #3 slot, right behind the live-actioners The Black Dahlia and Gridiron Gang.
Fox hasn't released how much Everyone's Hero cost, but the low opening is ominous. In comparison, Fox's previous animated offering, Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties, which took over $7 million in its first weekend. However, that flick had a more desirable early-summer opening.
Farther down the list, Paramount's Barnyard: The Original Party Animals slipped to #14, raking in a further $1,652,321. This cow flick is now in gravy: it's pulled $19 million more than what it originally cost Paramount to make. Now we must pray that the studio doesn't unleash something like Barnyard 2: A Whole Lotta Bull upon an unsuspecting audience.
Sony's Monster House rose one spot to #23. Unlike Barnyard, this film is still $4 million shy of making back its $75 million price tag.
Unfortunately, this and Everyone's Hero's lousy opening will likely convince studios that wisecracking-animals-in-CG-flicks is still the safe bet. Cars was the only other animated family film to not go this route, but it also had the advantage that it was a Pixar movie.
There will be a big fat goose-egg in new animated releases until September 29, when Sony's Open Season hits the multiplexes.
Here's the complete list:
3) Everyone's Hero (Fox): $6,061,762 (NEW)
14) Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (Par.): $1,652,321 ($69,131,901 over 7 weeks)
23) Monster House (Sony): $390,172 ($71,885,152 over 9 weeks)
25) Cars (B.V.): $345,867 ($243,067,357 over 15 weeks)
33) The Ant Bully (W.B.): $193,676 ($27,300,234 over 8 weeks)
73) A Scanner Darkly (W.I.P.): $17,883 ($5,451,647 over 11 weeks)
76) Garfield: A Tail of Two Kitties (Fox): $15,565 ($28,403,409 over 14 weeks)
