The dance flick Stomp the Yard stayed on top at the North American box office for the second week, grossing $13.3 million.
Night at the Museum came in second, bringing its total to $205.8 million and making it the fifth highest grossing film of 2006. The only film to open wide this weekend, the horror movie The Hitcher, came in fourth with $8.2 million.
A few Golden Globe winners also saw a boost in box office. The drama The Queen got a huge lift, jumping 233 percent from last week to ninth place after star, Helen Mirren and screenwriter Peter Morgan took home Golden Globe awards. The wartime fantasy Pan’s Labyrinth, meanwhile, saw its weekend gross jump 118 percent to seventh place this weekend with $4.7 million.
“Anyone who is skeptical about the positive effect a Globe win can have on a film’s box office need only look at this weekend’s numbers,” Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers told The Associated Press. Many Golden Globe-winning films are expected to be nominated for Academy Awards this Tuesday.
The Top 12 movies grossed $75.7 million over the weekend, down 19.86 percent from last year’s draw of $94.5 million and down 22.18 percent from last weekend’s total of $97.3 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Sony’s Underworld: Evolution, which opened at No. 1 with $26.8 million in 3,207 theaters, averaging $8,375 per theater; Weinstein Co.’s Hoodwinked, which stayed in second place in its second week with $10.4 million in 3,002 theaters, averaging $3,467 per theater; and Buena Vista’s Glory Road, which stayed in third place in its second week with $8.7 million in 2,396 theaters, averaging $3,660 per theater (Click here to read last year’s box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: Stomp the Yard (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $13.3 million (-39%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,051 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $6,485
• Cume to date: $41.5 million
No. 2: Night at the Museum (20th Century Fox, PG)
• Gross: $13 million (-24%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 3,483 (-129)
• Per-theater average: $3,732
• Cume to date: $205.8 million
No. 3: Dreamgirls (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $8.7 million (+4%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 2,214 (+307)
• Per-theater average: $3,935
• Cume to date: $78.1 million
No. 4: The Hitcher (Focus Features, R)
• Gross: $8.2 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,835
• Per-theater average: $2,904
No. 5: The Pursuit of Happyness (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $6.7 million (-25%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 3,066 (-103)
• Per-theater average: $2,185
• Cume to date: $146.5 million
No. 6: Freedom Writers (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $5.5 million (-24%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,286 (+107)
• Per-theater average: $2,434
• Cume to date: $26.8 million
No. 7: Pan’s Labyrinth (Picturehouse, R)
• Gross: $4.5 million (+107%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 609 (+415)
• Per-theater average: $7,389
• Cume to date: $9.9 million
No. 8: Children of Men (Universal, R)
• Gross: $3.7 million (-41%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 1,524 (+16)
• Per-theater average: $2,450
• Cume to date: $27.5 million
No. 9: The Queen (Miramax, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.7 million (+233%)
• Weeks opened: 17
• Theaters: 1,586 (+1,242)
• Per-theater average: $2,333
• Cume to date: $35.8 million
No. 10: Arthur and the Invisibles (MGM, PG)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-28%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,248 (+1)
• Per-theater average: $1,381
• Cume to date: $9.2 million
