U.S Box Office Report - 23rd - 25th December 2005

Here's another from Vemsie


1. King Kong - $31.4M - $118.7M
2. The Chronicles of Narnia - $30.1M - $163.5M
3. Fun with Dick and Jane - $23.5M - $31M
4. Cheaper by the Dozen 2 - $14.8M - $20.1M
5. The Family Stone - $10.9M - $30.1M
6. Memoirs of a Geisha - $10.2M - $13.3M
7. The Ringer - $8.4M - $8.4M
8. Rumor Has It... - $7.5M - $7.5M
9. Wolf Creek - $6.0M - $6.0M
10. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - $5.7M - $262.4M

With some of his strength left, Peter Jackson's King Kong managed to keep it's position at the top of the box office. It made $31.4 million from 3,576 theatres, bringing it's domestic total to $120.97 million so far. That's probably less than Universal expected and certainly less than they'd hoped for.

They don't need to worry though: the international box office is currently at $274.197 million, meaning it has already passed it's production budget in less than two weeks. It will hit $300 million sometime this week. And while it may not bring in staggering amounts of money in the US, it does seem to have legs. Kong dropped 34% in it's second week, far less than the average blockbuster (50% is not uncommon).

Disney's Narnia played in 300 extra theatres, almost enough to claim the crown. It was the number 1 film from Wednesday to Saturday but received some monkey uppercuts on Sunday and Monday. Andrew Adamson's fantasy film is a huge family hit and pitching it to a Christian market didn't exactly hurt it either. It has already been described as Disney's The Passion of the Christ. The $180 million film has made $163.5 million ($301.5 million worldwide) in 18 days.

The battle between the two fantasy heavyweights meant Jim Carry's big budget return didn't exactly made a splash. His Fun with Dick and Jane, a $100 million comedy remake of the 1977 movie of the same name, pulled in $21.5 million at 3,056 locations, less than most of his comedies. It didn't prove to be a hit with critics either. Roger Ebert: "The movie avoids the rich opportunities to plop Carrey and Leoni into the middle of a political lampoon, and turns to tired slapstick, wigs, false beards, 'funny' bank holdups, and so on." And the LA Times' Kenneth Turan said: "The film's overall frantic tone can't disguise the fact that the picture offers little delivery for all its build-up. Everyone involved with this production must have known there was a good movie somewhere, but no one's been quite able to find it."

Still, it fared a little better with critics than Steve Martin's Cheaper by the Dozen 2. With a Rotten Tomatoes score of 90 (!) percent rotten it must surely be one of the worst reviewed films of the year. Joe Public was a bit more receptive, as it made $20.6 million in six days. Certainly not a disaster and enough to claim the 4th place.

The other big news was the arrival of Steven Spielberg's controversial Munich, which opened in 532 theatres. It took home $5.7 million, meaning it just missed the top ten. Not everybody loved it, but it is without a doubt a movie that has people talking. "Munich is the most potent, the most vital, the best movie of the year", wrote David Edelstein for Slate. "An unsparing brutal look at two peoples all but drowning in a sea of their own blood, Munich is by far the toughest film of Steven Spielberg's career and the most anguished", found Manohla Dargis of the New York Times.

These films, along with Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain and the critically slated Memoirs of a Geisha will probably be the talk of the town next week as well, as Harry Potter is slowly leaving the list. Job well done though: it raked in $262.4 million domestically so far.