U.S Box Office Report - 13th - 15th October 2006

1. The Grudge 2 - $22M - $22M
2. The Departed - $18.6M -  $56.6M
3. Man of the Year - $12.550,000 - $12.5M
4. Open Season - $11M - $59.1M
5. TCM: The Beginning - $7.7M - $30.4M
6. The Marine - $7M - $7M
7. The Guardian - $5.8M - $41.1M
8. Employee of the Month - $5.6M - $19.9M
9. One Night with the King  -  $4.3M - $4.3M
10. Jackass: Number Two - $3.3M - $68.3M

Horror sequel The Grudge 2 takes the top spot, though with substantially lower box office than the original movie. The film managed the highest screen/takings average of any movie in the top ten. Unlike the first movie, this sequel isn't a direct remake of the Japanese original. Sarah Michelle Gellar returns but in a much reduced role. Like many horror films before it, this film will see a large second weekend drop off. According to comingsoon.net, the first Grudge movie had the biggest opening weekend of any horror movie with $39M.


The Departed had a very strong second weekend, down just 30% from its opening total. Excellent word of mouth, that cast and Scorcese's return to the gangster genre will all help the movie continue to perform well, and it'll need all that help in the coming weeks with another glut of new releases to face off against. The movie has taken a total of $63M worldwide so far, with a large number of territories yet to see the release. If rumour is to be believed, this will be Scorcese's last gangster & studio movie.

The Robin Williams comedy Man of The Year drops in at third place. Unlike RV, this movie didn't have the family attraction, with Williams starring as a late night talk show host who jokingly runs for president - and wins. RV sat in the top ten for most of the summer, seeing off some much bigger movies, success that many have predicted Man of the Year will not repeat. Still, given the time of year and increased competition out there, the film has done well to take more than $12M in its opening weekend, perhaps thanks to the people turned off by The Grudge 2 and/or have already seen The Departed.

Open Season, now in its third weekend, still continues to perform well. This success could be thanks in part to it still being the only real family orientated movie in the top ten. The film had a large production budget so every strong weekend helps. This is Sony's first foray into the CGI market and their strategy of avoiding the summer overkill of CGI animated fare has certainly started to pay off.

TCM: The Beginning behaves exactly as predicted - a front loaded first weekend and a large drop in its second. For low budget horror movies like this one that first weekend is the most important of them all. The majority recoup and often exceed their production budgets, paving the way for a lower 2nd weekend and a quick rush onto DVD, in the expected rated and unrated cuts. Horror does seem to be one of the few genres that doesn't need reviews, stars or good pre-release word of mouth to attract a decent sized audience.

The latest WWE produced movie, The Marine, opens better than See No Evil did over the summer, but still doesn't set the box office on fire. Being seen as a launch vehicle for WWE star John Cena, this second disappointment for the WWE might see them rethink their strategy. The PG-13 rating may not have helped either.

The Guardian crosses the $40M mark this weekend and may just see $50M before the end of its domestic run. Meanwhile, last week's Employee of the Month drops off 50% this week, hovering just below $20M. The low budget comedy was made for just $12M and should see a decent DVD release to add to that profitable total.

In at nine is religious movie One Night with The King. Opening on just 909 screens the movie had a very strong screen/taking average and is certainly the surprise entry of the weekend (I'd never heard of it, had to look it up. I wondered if it was some undiscovered Elvis concert movie!). Here's the official blurb.."One Night With The King" chronicles the life of the young Jewish girl, Hadassah, who goes on to become the Biblical Esther, the Queen of Persia, and saves the Jewish nation from annihilation at the hands of its arch enemy while winning the heart of the fiercely handsome King Xerxes.

Rounding out the top ten is Jackass 2 which edges closer to $70M from a budget of just $11.5M.

Elsewhere, the second Truman Capote biopic, Infamous, opened in limited release and took just under half a million from 179 screens. The Queen added another 35 screens to bring its total to 46 and saw a weekend box office total of just over a million dollars.