Monster House #2 at Boxoffice
A Scanner Darkly Drops Out of the Top 10
This is the weekend box office from an animation perspective. Monster House opens better than expected, Cars barely stays in the Top 10.
(Source: Box Office Mojo)
Yes, the big news was that Buena Vista's Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest held onto the #1 spot for the 3rd week in a row. It made $35,049,000 over this weekend, bringing its 3-week total to $321,733,000. This is important for two reasons: firstly, this makes Pirates the first movie to ever cross the $300 million mark in 16 days (the previous record holder, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith made it in 17). The second reason is that Dead Man's Chest has now made more box office booty (note cheap piratical pun here) than its predecessor, Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl.
So what's the news for animation fans? Sony's Monster House snagged the #2 spot, making $23 million in its theatrical debut. That's $3 million more than Sony expected in its first weekend, so that's good news for the studio. Some analysts believe that Monster House won't have the same "legs" as other animated films, since it's more of a scary thrill ride than movies like Over the Hedge and Cars. That theory will get tested in the next two weeks when two more animated movies, The Ant Bully and Barnyard, hit theatres.
Other animated movies haven't fared so well. Disney/Pixar's Cars clung to the bottom rung of the Top 10, making $4,910,000 in its 7th week of release. The film now has made $229,449,000 domestically and well over $300 million worldwide. This is great news for any studio but the Mouse House, which chopped 650 jobs last week.
Warner Independent's A Scanner Darkly seems to have peaked in its theatrical run. It made $661,000, bringing its 3-week total to $3,222,000. Considering it's only playing in 219 theatres (live-action documentary An Inconvenient Truth, which made slightly over $1 million, is playing on 440 screens), it's doing pretty well. Warner Independent really dropped the ball on this one, though.
Anyway, here's the Top 10:
1) Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest (BV): $35,049,000 ($321,733,000 over 3 weeks)
2) Monster House (Sony): $23,000,000 (NEW)
3) Lady in the Water (WB): $18,210,000 (NEW)
4) You, Me and Dupree (Uni.): $12,787,000 ($45,318,000 over 2 weeks)
5) Little Man (Sony): $11,000,000 ($40,611,000 over 2 weeks)
6) Clerks II (MGM): $9,625,000 (NEW)
7) My Super Ex-Girlfriend (Fox): $8,700,000 (NEW)
8) Superman Returns (WB): $7,460,000 ($178,427,000 over 4 weeks)
9) The Devil Wears Prada (Fox): $7,425,000 ($97,571,000 over 4 weeks)
10) Cars (BV): $4,910,000 ($229,449,000 over 7 weeks)
