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

1. V for Vendetta - $26.1M - $26.1M
2. Failure to Launch - $15.8M - $48.5M
3. The Shaggy Dog - $13.6M - $35.9M
4. She's the Man - $11M - $11M
5. The Hills Have Eyes - $8.05M - $28.8M
6. 16 Blocks - $4.74M - $30.2M
7. Eight Below - $4.19M - $73.1M
8. Madea's Family Reunion - $3M - $60.1M
9. The Pink Panther - $2.5M - $78.6M
10. Aquamarine - $2.02M - $15.7M

Well no real surprise this week, V for Vendetta was always a shoe-in for the top spot but with a somewhat disappointing return I'd imagine. Perhaps the R rating had something to do with it but I'd imagine Warner's were expecting more along the lines of $35M. The movie had been well reviewed in the US and it was easily the strongest movie to open in the past few weeks yet this doesn't appear to have been reflected in the box office. Maybe the mask put people off?

Failure to Launch continues to go against predictions losing just 35% of its takings from last weekend. The movie appears to have targeted its demographic (18-35 year old women) perfectly -no other movie in the top ten really appeals to that group and the chart has been without a strong romantic comedy for a while.

Percentage-wise, The Shaggy Dog performed even better. After a poor start last week the movie could prove to have more legs than was first thought. As the only young family friendly movie in the top ten it should really be cleaning up.

The only other new entry in the top ten this week is male/female confusion comedy She's The Man. A low budget teen comedy that, like Failure to Launch, seems to have its demographic firmly in mind and strongly marketed toward that group. Made for around $15M, the movie will see profit in its domestic run and may well perform well on DVD. The same goes for The Hills Have Eyes, which was into profit in its first week and continues to perform well, losing roughly half of its takings from last weekend. Again, this sort of movie, made cheaply, is just what the studios love. Almost no major stars in many cases, quick turn around, quick profit and a decent life span on DVD - more so in the case of Hills as you be assured there'll be a special edition uncut version.

16 Blocks keeps on trying but its third weekend it's still only just taken what a number of movies took in their first weekend. But while it stays in the top ten it'll continue to get marketing money and hopefully get to see another $10M before it drops from the top ten.

Eight Below outperformed expectations and will see over $80M before the end of its domestic run. Gotta love those abandoned huskys! Madea is still sitting pretty in top ten and this week sees it's next sequel greenlit & fast tracked for a Feb 2007 release. It'll probably cost roughly the same and should do equally good business.

The Pink Panther opens in more territories this month and sits just a few million shy of production profit. Not bad for a movie all but condemned by all who heard of it, including its studio which demanded extensive re-shoots and delayed the movie half a year.

Finally, Aquamarine struggles up for $15M and will no doubt be fast tracked onto DVD to try and cash in on some of the hype its cinema release had (or rather didn't appear to have!)

Elsewhere, in limited release, The Vin Diesal courtroom comedy Find Me Guilty took $600,000+ from 439 screens. The movie made for just $13M opens wide next weekend. Taking an impressive $260,000 from just 5 screens is the movie Thankyou For Smoking. Early word has been very strong and expect it to do well once it goes wide over the coming weeks - providing it doesn't get lost in the glut of movies that'll begin to hit in early-mid April.