Weekly Chart Review: 'Wedding Crashers' Top 'Hitch' for Comedy Crown, 'New World' Ships to Christmas
A guide to the significant happenings at the box office for the week ending Aug. 25, 2005.
Overall Business
All movies tracking grossed $161.9 million for the week, led by The 40-Year-Old Virgin's $32.3 million and Red Eye's $22.3 million. Business was down nine percent from last week and off three percent from the corresponding week in 2004, when Exorcist: The Beginning and Without a Paddle opened.
The total for 2005 climbed to $5.9 billion, continuing to trail 2004 by more than nine percent. The difference is greater percentage-wise comparing seasons—summer 2005 has grossed $3.3 billion thus far compared to summer 2004's $3.7 billion at the same point.
Related Links: Year-to-Date Comparison, 2005 Grosses
Date Shifts
New Line Cinema shipped The New World from a wide Nov. 11 release to Christmas day in Los Angeles and New York City, in order to qualify for the Academy Awards. The Terrence Malick-directed period drama featuring Colin Farrell and Christopher Plummer is set to reach nationwide release on Jan. 13, following a similar pattern to Malick's last picture, The Thin Red Line in 1998.
Moving to Nov. 11 with The New World's departure are the Weinstein Company's Derailed, a thriller with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen, and the wide expansion of Warner Bros.' Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, an action comedy with Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer. Still scheduled for the date are the family adventure, Zathura, and the urban drama, Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
Related Link: Release Schedule Changes
Milestones
With $181.5 million in 42 days, Wedding Crashers became the highest-grossing comedy of the year, out-gunning Hitch's $179.5 million.
Earlier in the week, Wedding Crashers topped There's Something About Mary's $176.5 million, though it is unlikely to beat it in terms of number of tickets sold. The 1998 R-rated comedy ancestor of Wedding Crashers shared the same release date, July 15.
Wedding Crashers also inched past Pretty Woman to be the eighth highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. The $40 million Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy is on course to cross the $200 million mark and could gross more than Batman Begins by the end of its run.
Meanwhile, March of the Penguins waddled past $50 million on its 62nd day of release. Worldwide, Mr. and Mrs. Smith passed $400 million, and the picture still has the lucrative countries, Japan and Italy, to look forward to.
Related Links: All Time R-rated Movies, Top Documentaries, All Time Worldwide
End-of-Run
Though it's still playing in a few theaters, Lions Gate has pulled the plug on The Devil's Rejects' box office, ceasing tracking as of Aug. 25. At 1,757 theaters, director Rob Zombie's follow-up to House of 1,000 Corpses grossed only $17 million, but improved on House's $12.6 million. The horror picture cost $7 million to make and is scheduled for a Nov. 8 release on DVD.
RELATED ARTICLES
• 8/22/05 - 'Virgin,' 'Red Eye' Fly High for Rising Actors
• 8/20/05 - Weekly Chart Review: 'Sin City' Closes, 'Vendetta' Flees Zorro's Wake
• 7/18/205 - 'Charlie,' 'Crashers' Draw Golden Box Office Ticket
Overall Business
All movies tracking grossed $161.9 million for the week, led by The 40-Year-Old Virgin's $32.3 million and Red Eye's $22.3 million. Business was down nine percent from last week and off three percent from the corresponding week in 2004, when Exorcist: The Beginning and Without a Paddle opened.
The total for 2005 climbed to $5.9 billion, continuing to trail 2004 by more than nine percent. The difference is greater percentage-wise comparing seasons—summer 2005 has grossed $3.3 billion thus far compared to summer 2004's $3.7 billion at the same point.
Related Links: Year-to-Date Comparison, 2005 Grosses
Date Shifts
New Line Cinema shipped The New World from a wide Nov. 11 release to Christmas day in Los Angeles and New York City, in order to qualify for the Academy Awards. The Terrence Malick-directed period drama featuring Colin Farrell and Christopher Plummer is set to reach nationwide release on Jan. 13, following a similar pattern to Malick's last picture, The Thin Red Line in 1998.
Moving to Nov. 11 with The New World's departure are the Weinstein Company's Derailed, a thriller with Jennifer Aniston and Clive Owen, and the wide expansion of Warner Bros.' Kiss Kiss, Bang Bang, an action comedy with Robert Downey, Jr. and Val Kilmer. Still scheduled for the date are the family adventure, Zathura, and the urban drama, Get Rich or Die Tryin'.
Related Link: Release Schedule Changes
Milestones
With $181.5 million in 42 days, Wedding Crashers became the highest-grossing comedy of the year, out-gunning Hitch's $179.5 million.
Earlier in the week, Wedding Crashers topped There's Something About Mary's $176.5 million, though it is unlikely to beat it in terms of number of tickets sold. The 1998 R-rated comedy ancestor of Wedding Crashers shared the same release date, July 15.
Wedding Crashers also inched past Pretty Woman to be the eighth highest grossing R-rated movie of all time. The $40 million Owen Wilson-Vince Vaughn comedy is on course to cross the $200 million mark and could gross more than Batman Begins by the end of its run.
Meanwhile, March of the Penguins waddled past $50 million on its 62nd day of release. Worldwide, Mr. and Mrs. Smith passed $400 million, and the picture still has the lucrative countries, Japan and Italy, to look forward to.
Related Links: All Time R-rated Movies, Top Documentaries, All Time Worldwide
End-of-Run
Though it's still playing in a few theaters, Lions Gate has pulled the plug on The Devil's Rejects' box office, ceasing tracking as of Aug. 25. At 1,757 theaters, director Rob Zombie's follow-up to House of 1,000 Corpses grossed only $17 million, but improved on House's $12.6 million. The horror picture cost $7 million to make and is scheduled for a Nov. 8 release on DVD.
RELATED ARTICLES
• 8/22/05 - 'Virgin,' 'Red Eye' Fly High for Rising Actors
• 8/20/05 - Weekly Chart Review: 'Sin City' Closes, 'Vendetta' Flees Zorro's Wake
• 7/18/205 - 'Charlie,' 'Crashers' Draw Golden Box Office Ticket
