Weekend Estimates for 12/24-12/26 from boxofficemojo.com

<table border="0 cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0"><<Last Weekend <Last YearView Index 

TW	LW	Title (Click to view daily chart)	Studio	Weekend Gross	% Change	Theater Count/Change		Average	Total Gross	Cost*	Week #
1	N	Meet the Fockers	Uni.	$44,679,000	-	3,518	-	$12,700	$68,513,000	$80 / -	1
2	N	Fat Albert	Fox	$12,700,000	-	2,674	-	$4,749	$12,700,000	- / -	1
3	1	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Par.	$12,500,000	-58.4%	3,623	+3	$3,450	$59,278,000	$140 / -	2
4	14	The Aviator	Mira.	$9,415,000	997.3%	1,796	+1,756	$5,242	$10,755,000	$110 / -	2
5	2	Ocean's Twelve	WB	$8,645,000	-52.3%	3,290	-	$2,627	$86,863,000	$110 / -	3
6	N	Darkness	Dim.	$6,432,000	-	1,700	-	$3,783	$6,432,000	$10.6 / -	1
7	4	The Polar Express	WB	$6,295,000	-25.2%	2,618	-250	$2,404	$140,000,000	$165 / $60	7
8	3	Spanglish	Sony	$5,000,000	-43.3%	2,441	+3	$2,048	$18,538,000	$80 / -	2
9	31	The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	BV	$4,881,000	4840.9%	1,105	+1,103	$4,417	$5,264,000	$50 / -	3
10	N	The Phantom of the Opera	WB	$4,200,000	-	622	-	$6,752	$6,520,000	$70 / -	1
11	6	National Treasure	BV	$4,069,000	-32.4%	2,201	-571	$1,848	$141,186,000	$100 / -	6
12	7	Christmas with the Kranks	SonR	$3,100,000	-42.2%	2,135	-806	$1,451	$69,324,000	$60 / -	5
13	8	The Flight of the Phoenix	Fox	$2,860,000	-43%	2,604	-	$1,098	$10,670,000	$45 / -	2
14	5	Blade: Trinity	NL	$2,650,000	-61.1%	2,318	-594	$1,143	$41,728,000	$65 / -	3
15	10	The Incredibles	BV	$2,615,000	-16.2%	1,732	-198	$1,509	$242,623,000	$92 / $60	8
16	9	Closer	Sony	$1,700,000	-49.3%	1,069	-21	$1,590	$22,573,000	$27 / -	4
17	12	Finding Neverland	Mira.	$1,271,000	-35.2%	933	-52	$1,362	$19,598,000	$25 / -	7
18	13	Sideways	FoxS	$1,175,000	-21.8%	356	-68	$3,300	$18,500,000	$16 / -	10
19	11	The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	Par.	$700,000	-65.1%	1,316	-799	$531	$78,774,000	$30 / -	6
20	15	House of Flying Daggers	SPC	$668,000	-17.8%	166	+21	$4,024	$2,769,000	- / -	4
21	22	A Very Long Engagement	WIP	$420,000	75.1%	166	+142	$2,530	$1,300,000	$56.6 / -	5
22	17	Kinsey	FoxS	$325,000	-35.8%	234	+43	$1,388	$5,700,000	$11 / -	7
23	30	Bad Education	SPC	$252,000	145.8%	50	+42	$5,040	$1,233,000	- / -	6
24	16	Ray	Uni.	$206,000	-62.5%	273	-345	$754	$70,748,000	$40 / -	9
-	N	Hotel Rwanda	UA	$111,000	-	7	-	$15,857	$154,000	- / -	1
-	27	Shall We Dance	Mira.	$63,000	-44.7%	341	+19	$184	$56,763,000	$50 / -	11
-	N	The Woodsman	NM	$61,200	-	6	-	$10,200	$61,200	- / -	1
-	42	Beyond the Sea	Lions	$39,000	-13.8%	6	-	$6,500	$105,000	- / -	2
-	49	Vera Drake	FL	$20,800	-35.8%	29	-9	$717	$2,088,000	- / -	11
-	39	The Sea Inside	FL	$15,700	-71.8%	6	-17	$2,616	$101,000	- / -	2

<<Last Weekend <Last YearView Index 

Fat Albert in second.. ugh.

Almost 70mill for The Fockers.... Holy hell.

I was going to wait til its on DVD...but I might have to check it out. I'll haev to see what the 2nd week brings.

10 mill for The Aviator.Man, that's bad. Does anyone think its Best Picture chances have been hurt. From what I remember, Best Pictures oscar winners tend to be the one that do good at the box office. In recent time: TLOTR, Chicago, A Beautiful Mind, Gladiator ,ect. Has there ever been a Best Picture winner that tanked at the box office?

Some of the costs of movies are insane. $80M for Meet the Fockers & Spanglish!!!!!!!!!! While I haven't seen either one, judging by the commercials, what could possibly costs so much??? It doesn't look like any special effects are needed for them.

You actually decide what to see based on box office receipts ??????

The talent. Adam Sandler's standard salary is $25 million (or 25% of the gross, presumably whatever's larger), and writer/director James L. Brooks probably got a pretty hefty payday. Meet The Fockers' budget is understandably high (the first one made a lot of money, so the producers, high-profile cast, etc. are lining their pockets as much as possible). Spanglish probably could've been made for less, but because its director/star have made other successful movies, Sony really wasn't putting any pressure on the movie to come in at a reasonable level.

Well, keep in mind that Aviator was in less than 1,800 screens (that's about half of what Fockers and many of the other big releases) not to mention that those numbers reflect a two day weekend for Aviator, as it was rolled out nationally on saturday, not friday. So, it's not a bad opening. It had the second biggest per screen average of the top ten also. Lots of films open on christmas day with so so openings, then display legs to gain their grosses. I imagine Aviator is intended as one of those releases, and it's too early to call on that one.

But many films get nominated with very little box office. Fargo, Shawshank, Secrets and Lies, LA Confidential, the list could go on all day long.

Some big drops this weekend too. Blade dropped all the way to 14th.

Polar Express keeps chuggin along.

Because all Oscar winners are huge block busters.....

Usually making less money and being played in art houses and lower theater count is a good thing for a movie come oscar season.

i wanted Fat Azz to fail so bad!!!

Maybe the sequel will bomb.

Hotel Rwanda with almost a $16 thousand per screen average!

Did you read the last part? I'll have to wait to see what the 2nd week brings and see what the drop off is. If there isn't much drop off....then the word of mouth is good...and yes....I'll probably go see it.

Finish reading the posts man!

Phantom of the Opera looks like its not going to do so well long term. I think WB really screwed up that film's promotion. I saw not a single tv ad for it in the past two weeks. I remember Fox and Miramax hyping the hell out of Moulin Rouge and Chicago, and Moulin went on to gross around 70 million and Chicago about 150 million. WB gave Phantom no help whatsoever. They better be hoping for foreign returns and DVD sales.

Of course, the lousy reviews for the lead actor and Schumacher's directing probably aren't helping either...

Glad to see The Polar Express still pulling in respectable numbers.

Meet The Fockers is faring well because of alot of factors. People liked the first so well, people are ready to get out of the house after Christmas day, the snow has people wanting to go to a movie once they can get out again, getting to see Hoffman, DeNiro and Streisand in one movie isn't hurting, either. Snicket is falling harder than I would have guessed. Isn't alot of The Polar Express revenue due to it being shown on IMAX screens?

It's only playing in 622 theaters right now.

I was really suprised that Phantom didn't do better. Saw it last night and the theater was half full (MTF was sold out on two screens, BTW). I would think that Phantom would do exceptionally well, because it has a built-in devoted following that Moulin Rouge and (for the most part) Chicago didn't have -- those who have seen the musical, many several times. I guess having a no-name cast really hurt them.

basically you said you see movies based on box office receipts and then you just re-iterated it in the 2nd sentence.

Have a clue what you're writing man!

I can't believe Fat Albert came in 2nd. What were people thinking? Was the movie any good?

There is an incredible amount of movies playing, and it is kind of dissapointing to see movies like Closer, Finding Neverland, Sideways, and Kinsey struggle to find an audience. I can only hope that The Aviator will continue to grow as it is a great film and a must see.

I also saw Phantom of the Opera this past weekend, and it is a visual delight in many ways. Enjoyment almost comes fully on a visual much in the way Hero did for me. Hopefully, that too, will find a bigger audience.

With the star of Good Burger how can you go wrong

Sandler did not get 25 mil for SPANGLISH. He gets 25 mil for 50 FIRST DATES and THE LONGEST YARD, not SPANGLISH.

While I don't doubt the 80 mil price tag (the film took time to film and lengthy post - same with GIGLI), some of the budgets listed on Mojo are questionable at best. I wouldn't take their numbers to heart.

The film is fine. It sets very small goals for itself, and achieves them with minimal sweat. Kids love it, and considering some of the other offerings made to them this past year, this wasn't nearly as offensive.

Was it rocket science? No. But you'll get what you pay for - if you even choose to pay for it.

The bigger crime this past weekend is the dung pile known as DARKNESS. Funny how nobody was quick to jump on that garbage.