U.S Box Office Report - 22nd - 24th September 2006

1. Jackass: Number Two - $28.1M - $28.1M
2. Jet Li's Fearless - $10.5M - $10.5M
3. Gridiron Gang - $9.7M - $27.2M
4. Flyboys - $6M - $6M
5. Everyone's Hero - $4.7M - $11.5M
6. The Black Dahlia - $4.4M - $17.2M
7. All the King's Men - $3.8M - $3.8M
8. The Covenant - $3.3M - $20.3M
9. The Illusionist - $3.2M - $27.5M
10. Little Miss Sunshine - $2.8M - $50.3M

Four years after the first movie and even longer since the demise of the TV show, the Jackass team return to take the no.1 spot. This movie bested the first one by over $6M but you can bet the budget was roughly the same. In a recent interview director Jeff Tremaine said they'd easily shot enough footage for a third movie or a massive special edition DVD. With those opening numbers, especially after the talk of Jackass being passed it, expect a further cinematic release.


Jet Li's final martial arts movie (martial arts, not action) had a good opening weekend on the surface but actually performed poorer than Li's recent output (Hero, Unleashed, Cradle 2 The Grave & The One). The core 'Li' audience make up a big part of that opening weekend taking so expect it to drop quickly next weekend. It appears that the US market isn't quite ready for a movie where Li isn't backed up by a more famous face, which a real shame given the amount of time he's already spent in the industry and how successful he is outside the US.

Gridiron Gang held onto a good percentage of its audience when compared with last weekend. The movie is just $3M shy of recouping its production budget and should see that total surpassed midweek. Sadly, like the Covenant the weekend before, the percentage drop is only so low because its initial weekend taking wasn't that high. That said, the movie should end its domestic run with at least $45M and find an equally strong market on DVD.

Flyboys, a world war 1 action drama about the first air force pilots slinks into the fourth spot. The movie was released with little fanfare, another casualty of the September dumping ground perhaps? According to IMDb the makers couldn't get the $60M required to produce & market the film from a studio and ended up raising the cash through producer Dean Devlin and the son of Oracle Corp founder Larry Ellison (David Ellison, who just happens to be a fighter ace himself). The movie isn't going to approach that budget, which is sad to see in a project that was clearly a labour of love for all concerned.

Like Gridiron Gang, Everyone's Hero lost just a small percentage of its market from last weekend but again, like Gridiron, this is more due to low initial box office as opposed to a buoyant market. The movie has benefited from being the only kid-friendly movie in the charts, but will face competition from next weeks CGI kid-flick Open Season.

The Black Dahlia, which hardly set the box office alight last weekend drops hard and fast this weekend, taking just $4.4M, down 55% from opening weekend. Another adult drama, with even more of a stellar cast opened this week in a disappointing 7th. Starring Sean Penn, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Anthony Hopkins & James Gandolfini, among others, All The Kings Men is the story of Governor Willie Stark, who becomes corrupted by his own power and the journalist who investigates. This was being dubbed Sony's big effort for Oscar glory but after some scathing reviews and little pre-release hype, expect them to write it off pretty quickly, or start an Oscar push for individual roles as opposed to the movie as a whole.

The rest of the top ten is rounded out by previous no.1 The Covenant, enjoying its last weekend on the chart and seeing $20M in takings. The Illusionist, still showing on just 1400 screens and crossing the $25M mark this weekend sits at 9 and it's partner in the late summer sleeper vein, Little Miss Sunshine, clears $50M this weekend.

Opening limited was Michel Gondry's Science of Sleep, taking $347,000 from 14 screens. The movie is due to open wider in the coming weeks.