U.S Box Office Report - 9th - 11th December 2005

1. The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe - $67.1M $67.1M
2. Syriana - $12M $13.5M
3. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - $10.3M $244M
4. Walk the Line - $5.75M $77M
5. Yours, Mine and Ours - $5.15M $40.9M
6. Aeon Flux - $4.62M $20.3M
7. Just Friends - $3.9M $26.5M
8. Pride & Prejudice - $2.49M $26.4M
9. Chicken Little - $2.26M $127M
10. Rent - $2M - $26.9M

Sadly this will probably be the last box office report of the year as we're moving house a week on Monday and our net connection won't be back on until...god knows when!

Narnia had a strong opening weekend but didn't top the record set by Return of the King. It had the 23rd biggest opening of all time and it exceeded studio estimates. The movie is also expected to have opened strongly elsewhere too. A lot was riding on it, the success of this movie will give the yay or nay on other Chronicles being adapted. Everyone is after the next Harry Potter-type franchise.

Second big opener of the week, Syriana, which has been in limited release for two weeks took an impressive $12M from just 1,700 screens. Very well reviewed and taking good money, this is George Clooney's 2nd political hit in as many months (the other being his directing effort Good Night and Good Luck).

The rest of the chart swapped places or dropped a few notches. Harry Potter, now in its fourth week, is still taking "double" figures at the box office. It's now moved to number 37 on the all time domestic takings chart. Expect it to remain in the top ten for at least another 3 to 4 weeks.

Sleeper success, Walk The Line, lost just 37% of its business from last weekend and continues to face off well against bigger and wider released movies. Strong word of mouth is keeping it firmly in the top five.

Comedy Yours, Mine & Ours seems to be working well in the counter-programming stakes and is $5M short of making back its production costs.

Last weeks big new entry Aeon Flux tumbled down to sixth place and lost a whopping 63% of its takings from last weekend. The film will probably end up with a final run taking of around $40M if it's lucky. This is the second flop in a row for Charlize Theron after Northern Country a couple of months ago so in typical Hollywood fashion she'll probably be shot (or sent to straight to video hell)

Tiny comedy Just Friends continues to take a little money and add to its profits (which it hit before last weekend). Pride & Prejudice begins to drop down the charts but it's done far better in the US than anywhere else in the world, including the UK.

Chicken Little & Rent round out the top ten. The latter still a long way from profit (and if The Producers doesn't perform that'll probably be the end of stage/musical to movie films for a while) while the former should end its domestic run on around $135-140M. Which will please Disney no end.

Of major note in the limited release area is Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha. Memoirs opened on just 8 screens and took and impressive $674,000, while Brokeback opened on just 5 screens and took $545,000. The later had the highest screen to ticket sales quota of any movie in the top 20. Both movies add around 50 screens next weekend and open wider Christmas week.