U.S Box Office Report - 23th - 25th April 2006

1. Silent Hill - $20.2M - $20.2M
2. Scary Movie 4 - $17M - $67.7M
3. The Sentinel - $14.7M - $14.7M
4. Ice Age: The Meltdown - $12.8M - $168M
5. The Wild - $8.05M - $22M
6. The Benchwarmers - $7.3M - $47.1M
7. Take the Lead - $4.25M - $29.6M
8. American Dreamz - $3.7M - $3.7M
9. Inside Man - $3.7M - $81.2M
10. Friends with Money - $3.55M - $5.33M

As expected Silent Hill takes the top spot from Scary Movie 4 with a comfortable $20M. A strong opening yet again for a horror movie, riding on the back of a good trailer and campaign. While actual opinions from fans and non-fans has been mixed, there's no arguing with those numbers. Sony might have been hoping for a little more, especially given the competition that's just around the corner.

Scary Movie 4 loses over 55% of its business from last week but already eases past its production budget. It won't finish as high as Scary Movie 3 did but it still proves that there is life in the franchise. Scary Movie 5 is almost assured.

The second new entry of the week is thriller The Sentinel. This is Michael Douglas as the disgraced security agent who uncovers a plot against the president. Prodigy Kiefer Sutherland is sent after him. This is more a test for the returning to movies Sutherland than it is for Douglas. It's also being see as a minor launching pad for Desperate Housewives star Eva Longoria. In fact, are people seeing this for the co-stars?

Ice Age 2 enters its fourth week in the charts still taking "double figure" box office. The movie is only $9M short of the total domestic box office takings of the first Ice Age movie. Expect it to finish close to $200M.

After last week's poor start for The Wild, things have picked up. Losing just 12% of business the movie has only dropped one place in the face of the week's new entries. The movie might have performed stronger had it not been released so close to Ice Age 2. It certainly lacked the flair and hype of the aforementioned movie.

Comedy The Benchwarmers drops 3 places but edges closer to the $50M mark which it should easily attain before dropping out the top ten. Take The Lead drops two places this week and will probably finish its domestic run with around $40M.

The final new entry is the Hugh Grant starrer American Dreamz. A satire on American TV & politics the movie might have hit too close to the bone for some (it sees a suicide bomber getting onto an American Idol type show, attempting to blow up the president who wants to be seen as more in touch with the people) while others are probably just tired of Hugh Grant. The movie opened only 1500 and cost $17M to make.

Inside Man passes the $80M mark and will drop out of the top ten next weekend. A strong result for Spike Lee and Denzel Washington's best result since Training Day.

Having opened in a limited capacity a couple of week ago, the Jennifer Aniston drama-comedy Friends with Money increases its screen numbers by 949 screens and just makes it into the top ten. Well received at Sundance, this is the little indie film Aniston will be seen in before returning to mainstream comedy with The Break-Up in a few months. Aniston is easily the most successful "Friends" star.