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Daily News
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Silent Hill Makes Noise at B.O.
Horror films continue to impress North American audiences as Sony's Silent
Hill captures the top spot at the box office.
Monday, April 24, 2006 at 10:00 AM
By Mark Umbach
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Sony Pictures
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Radha Mitchell stars in Christophe Gans' adaptation of Silent Hill
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Horror films still seem to have a stronghold over the North American box office.
While last weekend the horror spoof Scary Movie 4 dominated the box office
with over $40 million from its first weekend, this weekend Sony Pictures' Silent
Hill, which has been getting a big publicity push, snuck to the top of the
charts with an estimated $20.2 million from its freshman frame.
Silent, directed by Christophe Gans based on a video game of the same
name and starring Radha Mitchell and Sean Bean, was the fourth film from Sony
to open at number one this year. The company has been on a roll with the horror
genre as its Underworld: Evolution and When a Stranger Calls both
opened at number one, as did their comedy remake of The Pink Panther,
which the company released on behalf of MGM. Hill centers on a mother
(Mitchell) who takes her ill daughter to a creepy town in search of a cure only
to lose her among mysterious happenings.
Dimension Films' Scary Movie held its own in its second weekend bringing
in approximately $17 million for a second place finish. The film did suffer
a somewhat harsh 58% drop-off as compared to last weekend, but with its unexpected
strong $40 million opening, a steep dip was to be expected. Still playing in
3,674 theatres, the film has packed away $67.7 million after its first two weekends.
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20th Century Fox
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Kiefer Sutherland and Michael Douglas go at it in The Sentinel
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Another newcomer, 20th Century Fox's The Sentinel, posted strong numbers
in its debut. Directed by Clark Johnson and starring Michael Douglas, Kiefer
Sutherland and Desperate Housewives' Eva Longoria, the film dropped into
the third position with $14.7 million from weekend one. The action-thriller
opened on 2,819 screens for a strong $5,197 per theatre average. Douglas stars
as a secret service agent who is trying to break up an assassination plot against
the President, only to find that he is being pursued by another agent as the
prime suspect.
The weekend's only other new wide release, Universal's American Dreamz,
whose sound-bytes are now emblazoned in our brains ("We're not white trash!!")
didn't benefit one bit from its marketing push. The Dennis Quaid/Hugh Grant/Mandy
Moore starrer didn't quite live up to its name as it could only muster $3.7
million during its first weekend for a dismal eighth place finish. Paul Weitz
directed this PG-13-rated satire, which should pretty much disappear from the
charts in the coming weeks as it only brought in $2,460 from each of its 1,500
screens this weekend.
Two animated holdovers played well over the weekend, however, as both Fox's
sequel hit Ice Age: The Meltdown and The Wild, from Walt Disney
Pictures, finished in the top five. The well-reviewed Ice Age added another
$12.8 million to its growing cume, which now stands at a whopping $167.9 million,
while The Wild tacked on another $8.1 million from the weekend, pushing
its two-weekend cume up to $22 million. Ice Age is well on track to beat
out the $176.4 million the first Ice Age brought in back in 2002. Wild,
while not showing the power of Ice Age, did only post a 17% drop proving
there is room for two animated films in the top five.
Although it dropped out of the top five, Revolution Studios' The Benchwarmers
did hang on to its audience dropping only 26% with $7.3 million. Starring Rob
Schneider, David Spade and Jon Heder, the comedy - who knew - is proving mildly
successful with $47.1 million in its bank to date. Antonio Banderas dropped
two spots this weekend with his dance pic Take the Lead shaking its booty
in seventh place with $4.3 million. After three weekends in theatres, the New
Line drama has secured $29.6 million.
| Universal's Inside Man, which has been playing strong during its five
weekends in theatres, just hung on to ninth place as its $3.7 million narrowly
slipped past the female driven dramedy Friends With Money, from Sony
Pictures Classics, which hauled in $3.6 million from only 991 playdates. The
$3.7 million placed Inside Man just behind the studio's American Dreamz,
not saying much for the latter which was in its first weekend. Spike Lee's Inside
Man has put away $81.2 million thus far. Friends, meanwhile, made
it first foray into the top ten as the ensemble piece - featuring Jennifer Aniston,
Catherine Keener, Joan Cusack and Frances McDormand - now has $5.3 million from
three weekends.
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On the limited side, Picturehouse tacked on 32 more theatres to the release
of The Notorious Bettie Page, which is now on a total of 52 screens.
Starring Gretchen Mol as the famed 1950's pin-up model, Bettie Page added
$195,000 from the weekend pushing its total to-date up to $401,000. The film
will move into about 15 more theatres on Friday.
Miramax's Kinky Boots, a British comedy from helmer Julian Jarrold,
moved into 17 more theatres, for a total of 26, and brought in $110,000 for
a grand total that now stands at $213,000. Lionsgate also added to its run of
La Mujer de Mi Hermano, which is now in 217 theatres, 11 more than last
weekend. With $525,000 from this weekend, that film has now brought in a total
of $1.9 million.
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