U.S Box Office Report - 12th - 14th August 2005

1. Four Brothers - $20.7M - $20.7M
2. The Skeleton Key - $15.7M - $15.7M
3. Dukes of Hazard - $13M - $57M
4. Wedding Crashers - $12M - $164M
5. Deuce Bigelow: European Gigolo - $9M - $9M
6. Charlie & The Chocolate Factory - $7M - $183M
7. March of the Penguins - $6M - $37M
8. Sky High - $6M - $43M
9. Must Love Dogs - $4M - $34M
10. The Great Raid - $3.3M - $3.3M

Four new entries in the chart this week, with two going straight in at one and two. A few raised eye brows for the number one spot, possibly the biggest opening for a John Singleton movie (outside of Shaft I'm guessing). Four Brothers stars Marky Mark, Garrett Hedlund, Andre 3000 & Tyrese as four adopted brothers going home to find their mothers killer.


Following up the rear was the Kate Hudson thriller The Skeleton Key. Poorly reviewed and released in the US after a number of foreign territories, the makers should be quite pleased with that total.

Last weeks number one, Dukes of Hazard, had a big drop off from last week. It's recouped its budget (50M) but that drop is probably much bigger than the makers hoped. It'll probably end up with close to 80M for it's domestic total.

The massive Wedding Crashers now in it's fifth week still continues to take in more than some new entries in the charts. Expect any kind of sequel to be worked in (Christening Crashers? Bah Mitvah Crashers?)

The release of Deuce Bigelow (which many had going straight into number one) stalled at number 5 with just 9M. While it should clear a profit, the makers will be disappointed that it didn't clean up in what many are saying is a lacklustre week for releases at best.

March of the Penguins added nicely to its total and reaffirmed its place as the 2nd biggest documentary ever. Sky High & Must Love Dogs continue to take in a few million each although we might see them both heading south of the top ten next week.

WWII action drama The Great Raid rounds out the top ten. This was release on only 819 screens (compared to the 3,700 Dukes is on) and managed a poor 3M. This *might* be a casualty of the Miramax clean out. Miramax's owner the Weinstein brothers have split from Disney and set up their own company. They're rapidly offloading any movies they've had on the shelf before the Disney deal comes to a close. (not sure on this being one of those movies but it's had next to no hype or word of mouth...).

What does next week hold?

We have R-rated comedy The 40 Year Old Virgin, which should secure the top spot. Wes Craven plane thriller Red Eye, Pigeon movie Valiant and extreme sport movie Supercross. Red Eye will open at number 3, with 40 Year old taking the top spot with 22M I think.