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Box Office Analysis, Feb. 5: 'Messengers' Comes in Loud and Clear
HOLLYWOOD - Two newcomers topped the North American box office this weekend, starting with the ghost story The Messengers, which opened at No. 1 with $14.5 million. The mother-daughter romantic comedy Because I Said So, starring Diane Keaton and Mandy Moore, debuted in second with $13 million.
It was the seventh-straight year that Sony had the No. 1 movie on Super Bowl weekend, many of them similar low-budgeted horror hits such as last year's When a Stranger Calls, The Associated Press reports.
"This business model of creating these modestly budgeted horror films is just something that consistently works for Sony," Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers told AP.
The Top 12 movies grossed $71.5 million over the weekend, down 12.53 percent from last year’s draw of $81.7 million and down 19.82 percent from last weekend’s total of $89.1 million.
The Top Three films at the box office this time last year were: Sony’s PG-13 When a Stranger Calls, which opened at No. 1 with $21.6 million in 2,999 theaters, averaging $7,205 per theater; 20th Century Fox’s Big Momma's House 2, which dropped to second place in its second week with $13.6 million in 3,261 theaters, averaging $4,171 per theater; and Universal’s Nanny McPhee, which dropped to third place in its second week with $9.7 million in 2,146 theaters, averaging $4,565 per theater (Click here to read last year's box office report).
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES
(Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: The Messengers (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $14.5 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,528
• Per-theater average: $5,736
No. 2: Because I Said So (Universal, PG-13)
• Gross: $13 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,526
• Per-theater average: $5,155
No. 3: Epic Movie (20th Cent Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $8.2 million (-56%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,840 (+39)
• Per-theater average: $2,896
• Cume to date: $29.3 million
No. 4: Night at the Museum (20th Century Fox, PG)
• Gross: $6.7 million (-29%)
• Weeks opened: 7
• Theaters: 3,003 (-238)
• Per-theater average: $2,248
• Cume to date: $225.3 million
No. 5: Smokin' Aces (Universal, R)
• Gross: $6.3 million (-57%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 2,219 (+1)
• Per-theater average: $2,850
• Cume to date: $24.9 million
No. 6: Stomp the Yard (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $4.2 million (-45%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,169 (+54)
• Per-theater average: $1,936
• Cume to date: $56 million
No. 7: Dreamgirls (Paramount, PG-13)
• Gross: $4 million (-40%)
• Weeks opened: 8
• Theaters: 2,797 (+12)
• Per-theater average: $1,447
• Cume to date: $92.7 million
No. 8: Pan's Labyrinth (Picturehouse, R)
• Gross: $3.6 million (-25%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 1,082 (+259)
• Per-theater average: $3,327
• Cume to date: $21.7 million
No. 9: The Pursuit of Happyness (Sony, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-38%)
• Weeks opened: 8
• Theaters: 2,233 (-455)
• Per-theater average: $1,388
• Cume to date: $157.3 million
No. 10: The Queen (Miramax, PG-13)
• Gross: $2.7 million (-38%)
• Weeks opened: 19
• Theaters: 1,850 (+20)
• Per-theater average: $1,465
• Cume to date: $45.5 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Constellation (The Bigger Picture, PG-13)
• Gross: $222,000
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 238
• Per-theater average: $933
Factory Girl (MGM, R)
• Gross: $95,291
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3
• Per-theater average: $31,764
Photo(s) by Sony Pictures/Columbia /Tristar Sony Pictures Entertainment- © 2007- Sony Pictures Entertainment- All Rights Reserved