This Weekend at the Box Office: 2005.11.14

[Hand of Evil]

Another weak weekend but Harry Potter is out this coming weekend!

Estimated ticket sales for Nov 11-13

1. “Chicken Little,” $32 million
2. “Zathura: A Space Adventure,” $14 million
3. “Derailed,” $12.8 million
4. “Get Rich or Die Tryin’,” $12.5 million
5. “Jarhead,” $12.3 million
6. “Saw II,” $9.4 million
7. “The Legend of Zorro,” $6.6 million
8. “Prime,” $4 million
9. “Dreamer: Inspired by a True Story,” $3.8 million
10. “Pride & Prejudice,” $2.8 million

See www.boxofficemojo.com for details.

 

[Aaron2]

1. “Chicken Little,” $32 million
2. “Zathura: A Space Adventure,” $14 million

I'm really suprised Zathura did so poorly. Especially considering how creepy that chicken looks. He certainly scarier than the clown-dude from Saw II.


Aaron

 

[jcfiala]

I'm really suprised Zathura did so poorly. Especially considering how creepy that chicken looks. He certainly scarier than the clown-dude from Saw II.

Aaron

Ditto. I'd stated last week that I expected the numbers to be reversed - I expected Chicken Little to do about 10 M. But no... how odd. (And Zathura got some pretty decent reviews.)

Maybe people picked up on the Jumanji connection and decided to stay away? It's a puzzle.

 

[WizarDru]

Ditto. I'd stated last week that I expected the numbers to be reversed - I expected Chicken Little to do about 10 M. But no... how odd. (And Zathura got some pretty decent reviews.)

Maybe people picked up on the Jumanji connection and decided to stay away? It's a puzzle.

Why would associations with Jumanji keep people away? I've never seen the film, but I never got the impression it was a bad movie. It made $100 million in the theater and $52 million in rentals, so it wasn't a flop by any means.

I'm rather suprised that Chicken Little managed to hold on that strongly, but it's not a bad film. It also had a much stronger ad campaign than Zathura, which mostly came out of left-field and appears to be much scarier, reducing it's audience. Initial reviews indicate that it's for older kids, and when choosing between two movies, families are going to choose the G film over the PG film.

If you take a look at rottentomatoes.com, CL is being savaged by the critics, while the viewers rate it much higher. Chicken Little only got a 37% from critics, but an 82% from viewers....while Zathura got a 75% and 76%, respectively. Having seen CL, I'd say that it definitely could be better, but the critics are being unneccesarily harsh (and I suspect mostly because this film isn't Pixar as much as it's own relative quality).

 

[Aaron2]

Why would associations with Jumanji keep people away? I've never seen the film, but I never got the impression it was a bad movie.

It was a decent movie and I wasn't expecting much. It did, however, has some of the earliest and worst digital effects ever.

 

[Hand of Evil]

I'm really suprised Zathura did so poorly. Especially considering how creepy that chicken looks. He certainly scarier than the clown-dude from Saw II.


Aaron

I still have to file this is do to age of the movie goers, CL was promoted as a kid flick, under 15, anyone above that would head for the date flicks and when you look at 2 to 5, you can see things were spread out (3, 4, & 5 very close), it gives the impression of 'ho hum' nothing interesting to see here, at least to me. People just are not going to see movies.

 

[WizarDru]

I still have to file this is do to age of the movie goers, CL was promoted as a kid flick, under 15, anyone above that would head for the date flicks and when you look at 2 to 5, you can see things were spread out (3, 4, & 5 very close), it gives the impression of 'ho hum' nothing interesting to see here, at least to me. People just are not going to see movies.

True 'dat.

Nothing in the theaters really appeals to me, right now. Chicken Little was fun, and Zathura looks good...but it looks too scary for my kids (it may not be, hard to say). But if it's a choice between playing Incredible Hulk: Ultimate Destruction on the Xbox on my HDTV or going out to see such lackluster fare as Saw 2...well, Hulk Smash.

I mean, things are set to heat up in the next few weeks, with Harry Potter, King Kong and Narnia on the way...but right now, people are just staying away.

 

[Aaron2]

...but right now, people are just staying away.

I used to think that the low box office was do to this years curious collection of sucky movies but now I'm not so sure. Consider that the D&D movie made 34 million and it had no stars, horrible reviews and lacked any sort of "date movie" appeal. This year both Serenity and Doom did about the same amount. Serenity, for the most part, had good reviews and Doom wasn't toooo bad (certainly not as pain-inducing as D&D) but they both were lackluster at the box office. Is it possible that this is a permanent decline? I know that my wife and I watch two movies a week thanks to netflix and I don't think we've been to the theater more than five times this year.

Also, my friend and I were talking about BSG releasing episode DVDs in the middle of the season. I wouldn't be suprised if in a few years a show releases the DVDs (or puts it on some sort of per-per-download service) -before- the episodes air. Considering that DVD buyers are paying $2.50 per episode, it might be worth it even if just a tiny fraction of the audience buys the set.


Aaron

 

[ThirdWizard]

Why would associations with Jumanji keep people away? I've never seen the film, but I never got the impression it was a bad movie. It made $100 million in the theater and $52 million in rentals, so it wasn't a flop by any means.

Jumanji was a great movie. Zathura looks like a Jumanji clone without Robin Williams, which is to say, not worth it.

 

[Acid_crash]

Zathura was a funny movie and well done. Not as good as Jumanji, but for what it was, being a space adventure, it did a darn good job. I was laughing quite a bit.

Jumanji is a 8 where Zathura is a 6.5. Both worth watching, but Zathura is a matinee where Jumanji is a friday night date with a girl. Z is worth the watch.