U.S Box Office Report - 16th - 18th September 2005

1. Just Like Heaven - $16.5M - $16.5M
2. The Exorcism of Emily Rose - $15M - $52.2M
3. Lord of War - $9.2M - $9.2M
4. The 40-Year-Old Virgin - $5.8M $90M
5. Cry_Wolf - $4.5M - $4.5M
6. Transporter 2 - $4M $36M
7. The Constant Gardener - $3.6M $24.3M
8. Red Eye - $2.9M $55.2M
9. March of the Penguins - $2.5M $70M
10. Wedding Crashers - $2.5M $203M

The Reese Witherspoon Ghost-lite romantic comedy slips into the top spot as predicted in a few places last week. A good opening but perhaps on the lower end of the scale and setting up to be way short of Witherspoon's big movie, Legally Blonde. Elsewhere the Nic Cage weapons drama enters at a disappointing 3rd place. The movie which appeared out of nowhere a few months ago may have suffered from an unsure public and a less than sympathetic lead character (weapons trader to anyone) but damn, it looked good!

The other new entry this week is internet slasher Cry_Wolf (not Wolf Creek as I said last week!) Yet another in a long line of PG-13 'horror' movies. Not sure of its budget but expect it to plummet next week. A lot like last weeks 'The Man'. The biggest interest though is Emily Rose again. Taking only a 50% drop off from last week, it dropped just one place and has already doubled its budget with its two week takings. Possibly the last sleeper of summer?

The 40 Year Old Virgin, like The Wedding Crashers, refuses to go quietly into the night and continues to take in the money in its 5th week, standing firm at number 4. Transporter 2 has just covered its production budget and could well see another sequel some point in the future. Expect it to well on DVD too.

The well-reviewed Constant Gardener drops further down the charts and was perhaps released at the wrong time of the year for the popcorn summer market (see Cinderella Man as well). A complex thriller, it was never going to survive for long but hopefully strong word of mouth will see it hang on there a little longer and do well throughout the world.

The other movie refusing to leave the top ten is March of the Penguins which actually moved one place back UP the chart! Something almost unheard of for any movie but for a documentary? Goes to show there is a strong market, and not just for politic documentaries either. Red Eye & The Wedding Crashers are the only other entries in the chart and expect one or both of them to exit next weekend.

One other mention is for the Redford/Freeman/J-Lo movie, An Unfinished Life, which added a few more screens this week and saw its box office rise to suit.

Corpse Bride opened on limited screens, as did Proof. One other release, Venom, failed to do any real business from its 700+ screens.

Next week, Corpse Bride at 3000 screens and we'll see airplane thriller FlightPlan get its release. Flightplan, starring Oscar winner Jodie Foster is being billed as a kind of The Lady Vanishes should enter at no.2 with Bride taking the top spot.