Buena Vista/Touchstone's PG-13 rated romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama fell one peg to second place in its second week, showing good legs with an ESTIMATED $21.6 million (-39%) at 3,303 theaters (+10 theaters; $6,541 per theater). Its cume is approximately $65.6 million.
Directed by Andy Tennant, it stars Reese Witherspoon and Josh Lucas.
DreamWorks' PG-13 action comedy The Tuxedo slipped one rung to third place in its second week, holding nicely with an ESTIMATED $10.1 million (-33%) at 3,022 theaters (theater count unchanged; $3,341 per theater). Its cume is approximately $28.1 million.
Directed by Kevin Donovan, it stars Jackie Chan and Jennifer Love Hewitt.
Films' release of Gold Circle Films and HBO's PG rated romantic comedy blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding held on to fourth place in its 25th week, continuing to show amazingly strong legs with an ESTIMATED $8.48 million (-10%) at 1,971 theaters (+130 theaters; $4,304 per theater). Its cume is approximately $148.0 million, heading for $175 million in domestic theaters.
Wedding has now passed the $140.5 million record set by Artisan Entertainment's The Blair Witch Project and ranks as the top grossing independent film ever at the domestic office.
Directed by Joel Zwick, it stars Nia Vardalos and John Corbett.
"Down 10 percent in week 25!" IFC distribution president Rob Schwartz said Sunday morning. "I'm thinking at least $175 million at this point. We'll have to revisit it after next week. Next week (with so many new films coming into the marketplace) makes me a little nervous, but if this film holds true to form, everyone who opens next week is going to do what they do and maybe take a little steam off of us, but then they'll start dropping off or falling behind us pretty quickly. So I wouldn't put $175 million out of reach at all. I think that's a realistic number."
Asked about the buzz in Hollywood that Greek Wedding looks like a contender for Golden Globe and Oscar attention in various key categories, Schwartz agreed, "I think there are a lot of possibilities out there. It's definitely something that's being strategically hashed out right now."
Assessing the film's success, Schwartz noted, "I think it's really the universality of the picture and that it speaks to everyone. Everyone loves it. It could be My Big Fat Italian Wedding, My Big Fat Irish Wedding, My Big Fat Jewish Wedding. It speaks to everyone the same way. It's just universal the way it touches people. The timing was just right for this kind of film.
"Everything was about Star Wars and Spider-Man this summer and the big blockbusters, as per usual. This was the only thing for a while in its demographic. It was just a nice mainstream type of film that people hadn't been seeing in a while. Studios and independents alike have been taking care to provide something edgy or different and it looks like the audience just wanted to see something normal, something that they could relate to."