U.S Box Office Report - 4th - 6th August 2006

1. Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby - $47M - $47M
2. Barnyard: The Original Party Animals - $16M - $16M
3. Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest - $11M - $380M
4. Miami Vice - $9.7M - $45.7M
5. The Descent - $8.8M - $8.8M
6. John Tucker Must Die - $6.05M - $28.6M
7. Monster House - $6M - $57M
8. The Ant Bully - $3.9M - $18.2M
9. The Night Listener - $3.6M - $3.6M
10. You, Me and Dupree - $3.6M - $66.8M

Talledga Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby takes the top spot this week with a huge $47M weekend. The Nascar based comedy easily saw off all the new releases from this week and swept aside last weekends Miami Vice to become the biggest opening a Will Farrell comedy has ever seen. Previously Elf had been Farrell's strongest opening movie, followed closely by Anchorman. This hit comes on the back of a number of disappointments for Farrell, such as the under-performing Kicking & Screaming and Bewitched. The movie had a good screen/taking average and has actually taken more than Miami Vice's two weekend total.

Dropping into number 2 is the new CGI comedy, Barnyard. Though performing better than last weekend's The Ant Bully, the movie still fell way short when compared against the original Ice Age, Madagascar and this year's Over The Hedge. Barnyard marks the third CGI movie in as many weekends and some part of its lack of success must be down to the over saturated market. Still, with children out on school holidays, the summer July/August period is still potentially the most lucrative, for the right movie. Expect to see the next wave veer a little further from the cute woodland animal scenario.

Pirates 2 drops another place but still performs very well up against the newcomers. Taking just $5M less than Barnyard, this weekend sees the movie break into the top ten of all time domestic hits. At this point, the $400M mark doesn't seem that far away.

Last weeks no.1 movie, Miami Vice, sees a huge 62% drop in takings in only its second weekend. Some movies can withstand a hit like but Vice only opened with $25M, making this drop all the more disappointing. With a huge budget to recoup, the movie looks like being another summer failure, especially when faced with another batch of new releases next weekend. Expect the movie to begin shedding screens and hanging on for dear life in the coming weeks. Released at the wrong time of the year? Confusing marketing? Who's to say. The movie opened higher than Mann's previous release Collateral, but doesn't appear to have the legs of that film. Vice will be lucky to see $60M.

The Descent, the pot-holing horror that the UK got to see this time last year had a very strong opening from its 2000+ screens. Word of mouth, good reviews (a rarity for horror movies which often aren't even screened for critics) and an impressive ad campaign have all helped this little movie into the top five. Had the movie opened wider (in comparison Barnyard is on 3300 screens) it might have broken the $10M barrier.

Last weekend's surprise success, John Tucker Must Die, loses a good portion of its market but begins to edge closer to $30M. The movie was made for $18M so its well on the way to recouping its total production budget now.

Monster House & The Ant Bully both struggle on against the competition that the Barnyard has provided them this weekend. Out of the two, The Ant Bully has come off the worst, struggling to see $20M in what will likely be its last weekend in top ten. The Monster House had a stronger initial opening but fell much quicker than estimates had expected. The movie is still over $15M short of recouping its production budget and it too, may be looking at its last weekend on the top ten. Surely a less crowded Halloween weekend would have suited the movie more?

You, Me & Dupree and new entry The Night Listener are separated by just $3,000, so a place change could take place once final numbers are in on Monday. The Night Listener is a new Robin Williams drama, the polar opposite to his movie that opened the summer season, RV.

In limited release, Little Miss Sunshine continues to perform well from its handful of screens while M Night's Lady in the Water still hasn't bested the opening weekend of Signs, even in its third weekend.