U.S Box Office Report - 20th - 22nd January 2006

1. Underworld Evolution - $27.6M - $27.6M
2. Hoodwinked - $11.M - $29.3M
3. Glory Road - $9.1M - $28.0M
4. Last Holiday - $9.1M - $26.3M
5. Brokeback Mountain - $7.8M - $42.1M
6. Fun with Dick and Jane - $6.1M - $101.7M
7. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - $6.0M - $271M
8. End of the Spear - $4.7M - $4.7M
9. Hostel - $4.3M - $42M
10. The New World - $4.2M - $4.4M

First up are the corrections from last week. After estimates placed Hoodwinked at number one (numbers where hard to finalize due to the holiday) it was revealed when final numbers arrived on Tuesday that Glory Days has actually pipped it at the post. Furthermore, during the week the Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday moved into second place pushing Hoodwinked to third (sequel already greenlit btw)

But in at one this week is the Kate Beckinsale sequel. Not screened for critics as the studio knew they'd be negative reviews, the movie bested the first movie by a cool $6M. The first movie ended its domestic run on just $51M but found a market overseas and on video/dvd, hence the green-lit sequel. Be interesting to see how it holds up for next week.

As stated, last weeks top three just swapped around a bit this weekend but there's less than $2M between them.

Adding another 513 screens to bring its total to 1,196 this week saw Brokeback Mountain contain to reap in rewards, having the biggest screen/takings tally of any movie in the top twenty. Amazing word of mouth, awards and a staggered opening have all helped the movie. The extra publicity of the movies ban in Utah has also had the opposite effect.

Fun with Dick & Jane crossed over the $100M mark and continues to do well. Notice how the marketing switched during gestation too - originally Tea Leoni featured heavily in the marketing with Carrey, but somewhere along the line they decided to make it a Jim Carrey Movie. Perhaps fearful that people wouldn't see a film where Carrey wasn't the sole attention getter? Who knows. For what the movie is, it cost a lot of money. Seeing how Carrey plays big in most places, it was probably a wise move to focus on him mainly for the marketing in order to recoup those costs.

Narnia still continues to reap in the cash and is heading up higher and higher on the all time US box office list. A sequel was green-lit this week so expect a summer 2007 or Thanksgiving 2007 release.

In at 8 is a movie I had to look up as I'd not heard of it. End of the Spear seems to be another Christian movie and is being marketed strongly to southern church groups, which seems to have paid off. Never underestimate that market for getting people into a movie. They even tried it with Narnia.

Here's the blurb
In 1956, five missionaries are killed by the Waodani people of Ecudaor. The adult son of one of the murdered men leads a second group of missionaries into the Ecuadorian rainforest, and the encounter forever alters the lives of both peoples.

Big news the other weekend, it appears that all the gore and T&A fiends have been to see Hostel, leaving it dropping from the charts fast. Still, it was in profit from the first weekend so no one will lose sleep. Not only that but it still has plenty of places left to open in the world.

Rounding out the top ten is Terence Malick's New World. The movie has been on limited release for 5 weeks and opened on 811 screens this weekend. Made for only $30M, expect it gain the same status as Badlands & Thin Red Line simply because of Malick's reputation.

In limited this week was the Albert Brooks comedy "How to find comedy in the Muslim World" and documentary "Why We Fight".

Kong drops out of the top ten this week, which has to be a disappointment for the studio, even though the movie has taken a packet in the US and worldwide. For execs, this will be seen like Godzilla, makes an absolute fortune but still seen as well underachieving. Ah those crazy execs....