U.S Box Office Report - 17th - 19th February 2006

1. Eight Below $19.8M $19.8M
2. Date Movie $18.9M $18.9M
3. The Pink Panther $16.5M $42.2M
4. Curious George $11.2M $29.4M
5. Final Destination 3 $10.1M $35.8M
6. Firewall $9M $$27.3M
7. Freedomland $5.9M $5.9M
8. When A Stranger Calls $4.9M $41.2M
9. Big Momma's House 2 $4.4M $61.3M
10. Nanny McPhee $3.7M $37.8M

Proper report this week. Tiling the bathroom and a trip to London got in the way last weekend. So the Paul Walker dogs in peril story takes the top spot. Harking back to the days of Disney's Incredible Journey and such ilk, the film features Walker as an Antarctic guide who is forced to abandon his dogs to save a fellow traveller. The majority of the movie focuses on the dogs survival, with viewers saying the film is let down by its human element. Walker also has Running Scared next week and seems to be working none stop.

Right on the coat tails is spoof rom-com Date Movie, which was expected to open in the top spot but just fell short. Taking an impressive $18.9M the movie will hit profit fast if it hasn't already. There's always room for spoofs, as the Scary Movie franchise has shown (and will again in April) so expect a Date Movie 2 to enter production shortly.

The Pink Panther, the movie that Sony wasn't even sure it wanted, defied expectations last weekend to take the top spot and this weekend it continues to perform well, losing just 18% of its business from last weekend. Though it has a long way to recoup its budget, Sony must be happy that the movie hasn't flopped (which early word, re-shoots and poor trailers seemed to point to) and might end up giving Sony an unexpected hit.

Like Pink Panther for takings, Curious George also performed very well in its second week, losing just 23% of business. Made for $50M, perhaps this movie proves again that traditional 2D animation is a long way from dead. But will the studios listen? (there's an estimated 10 + cgi flicks due in the next 12-18 months)

Final Destination 3 takes more of a tumble, losing 47% of business from last weekend but has already recouped its budget of $25M. The market for quick hit horror is alive and well (witness a few weeks earlier the success of low budge horror When a Stranger Calls). Word on this forum has the movie better than part 1 but poorer than part 2, generally.

Harrison Ford needs a hit. Firewall sadly doesn't appear to be that hit. While it won't affect Ford in anyway regarding movie roles, even he must be wondering how long it'll take Lucas to ok the Indy 4 script. Ford seems to be struggling to get a hit at the moment, K19 flopped, as did Hollywood Homicide. Ford hasn't had a hit since 2000 What Lies Beneath, and that was his first hit since 1997s Airforce One. He's still as popular as ever but people just aren't interested in the movies he's making. Firewall is performing better than the last two but has a long way to go yet.

Thriller Freedomland drops in at no.7. A thriller starring Samuel L Jackson and Julianne Moore, as a detective and reporter respectively, investigating the disappearance of a young boy, whose mother accuses an African-American man from the projects. The film was directed by movie producer supremo Joe Roth, but appears to have been dumped into the February market with little fanfare.

The rest of the top ten is rounded out by older movies, all of which performed well in their time in the top ten. Best of which was Big Momma's House which has taken over $20M than its initial budget. Doing almost as well was When a Stranger Calls, which was into profit that opening weekend. UK poor show Nanny McPhee is really finding a market in the US and has taken over $37M so far.

In limited release was Nightwatch, which opened on just three screens and took $83,000. Elsewhere, Narnia is just $14M of $300M.