(Source: www.boxofficemojo.com)
It's a Sony fall season. The studio's two summer/fall offerings were the most successful animated films last weekend, taking #3 and #19 respectively. Open Season, despite some scathing reviews, is holding its own against such live-action competition as Employee of the Month and Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning. The Martin Lawrence/Ashton Kutcher-voiced flick has made a solid $43,754,064 in its two weeks in theatres, earning back half of its $85 million price tag.
Monster House, Sony's mid-summer offering, has rebounded unexpectedly, jumping to the 19th spot from #30. This is partially due to the fact that animated family films tend to have longer staying power than their live-action brethren, still making money in theatres while other flicks are waiting to be transferred to DVD. Despite this, Monster House is still $2 million shy of making back its studio costs. This flick may yet find new life on DVD, but it's still considered a casualty of the Great Glut of 2006.
Everyone's Hero and Barnyard have pretty much used up their 15 minutes of fame. Both films are dropping rapidly at the box office. Paramount is not to unhappy, though: Barnyard managed to scrape together a tidy $20 million profit. Expect more animated films from this studio, but hopefully not a sequel. On the other hand, there's no way that Everyone's Hero can be considered a success. Fox dumped this flick into the Labour Day quagmire 4 weeks ago, and its $13,846,166 total has borne out the wisdom of this decision. It's a shame that the late, great Christopher Reeve couldn't have gone out on a better note than this.
Speaking of shame, Renaissance seems to be getting the Idiocracy treatment as Miramax keeps adding theatres in dribs and drabs. This little foreign flick is now up to a mighty 13 theatres, but seems to be packing them in nicely. Unfortunately, this movie is nowhere near yours truly, so I'll just have to wait until it opens in the nearest art-house before giving it a review. I hope it does: I've been hearing good things about this film.
Anyway, here's the whole list.
3) Open Season (SPA): $15,625,324 ($43,754,064 over 2 weeks)
19) Monster House (Sony): $395,758 ($73,034,593 over 12 weeks)
22) Barnyard: The Original Party Animals (Paramount): $357,980 ($71,713,703 over 10 weeks)
28) Everyone's Hero (Fox): $256,669 ($13,846,166 over 4 weeks)
35) Cars (B.V.): $134,870 ($243,921,502 over 18 weeks)
56) The Ant Bully (W.B.): $21,179 ($27,616,168 over 11 weeks)
64) Renaissance (Miramax): $10,412 ($47,213 over 3 weeks)
100) A Scanner Darkly (W.I.P.): $860 ($5,480,996 over 14 weeks)
