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Daily News
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Captain Steers Box Office
In a relatively soft movie-going weekend, Paramount's Sky Captain and the
World of Tomorrow rockets its way to the top of the box office chart.
Monday, September 20, 2004
By Mark Umbach
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Although it was a relatively slow weekend in theaters, Paramount Pictures'
experimental Sky Captain and the World of Tomorrow picked up enough speed
in its debut to bow at number one on the North American box office charts with
an estimated $16.2 million. The film, although finishing ahead of what was predicted,
was a little disappointing for the studio as the budget for the project was
in the $70 million range.
Starring Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow and Angelina Jolie, Sky Captain
is set in 1939 and stars Law as a pilot who teams up with a beautiful reporter
to investigate attacks by mysterious robots and the disappearance of famous
scientists from around the world. Practically the entire PG-rated film, created
digitally, was shot in front of a blue screen by first-timer Kerry Conran, who
both wrote and directed the project.
The Bernie Mac-starring baseball comedy Mr. 3000, from Buena Vista Pictures,
stepped up to the plate in the second position with a first-weekend estimate
of $9.2 million. The film, directed Charles Stone III and co-starring Angela
Bassett, bowed a little lower than expected.
Screen Gems' Resident Evil: Apocalypse, which conquered the box office
last weekend, snuck into the third just behind Mr. 3000 with an estimated
$9 million. The film took a harsh hit in second outing, dropping a mean 61%,
and has mustered up $37.4 million after ten days in release.
Another sports-themed comedy, the Kirsten Dunst/Paul Bettany starring Wimbledon,
served up a fourth place bow with an estimated $7.8 million. Working Title produced
the Richard Loncraine-helmed romancer, which stars Dunst and Bettany as two
tennis stars who embark on an unlikely romance. The PG-13 rated film also finished
below what had been expected.
Cellular, from New Line Cinema, dialed up another $6.9 million from
the weekend for a fifth place finish. Playing on 2,749 screens during its sophomore
frame, the Kim Basinger-starring thriller fell off only 32% and has pocketed
a grand total of $19.8 million after its first ten days in release.
Sixth place went to the Paramount buddy comedy Without a Paddle, which
has been holding on strong for its first five weekends in theaters. Dipping
only a miniscule 18% compared to the weekend previous, the low-budget project,
which has shown the lowest week-to-week drops of any of the top ten films, has
now made a relatively impressive $50.4 million.
Miramax Films' Hero, starring Jet Li, planted itself in the seventh
slot with $3.0 million from the weekend, while Fox Searchlight's indie darling
Napoleon Dynamite stuck around in the top ten for the second straight
week with $2.4 million and eighth place. Hero, which has been in theaters
for four weekends, has now picked up $46.2 million, while Dynamite is
doing dynamite for a limited release film having garnered $33.5 million from
15 weeks in release.
Collateral, the Tom Cruise/Jamie Foxx starrer from DreamWorks, continued
to sneak toward the $100 million mark as a $2.3 million weekend knocked its
total cume up to $96 million after seven weeks in theaters. The teen romancer
The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement rounded out the top ten for
the weekend with a cool $2 million. To date, that film has made $91.9 million
at the box office.
On the limited side, Go Fish opened Ghost in the Shell 2: Innocence,
which spooked up $330,000 from audiences in 47 houses across the country. The
Japanese animated film brought in a promising $7,021 per theater. Newmarket
also put a new film out, John Sayles' political satire Silver City, which
pulled in $350,891 from 114 playdates. The film averaged $3,078 per house.
| Fine Line bowed the latest from John Waters, the NC-17 rated A Dirty Shame,
in one theater and saw $33,000 worth of receipts. The film will expand into
more theaters next weekend.
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Sony Classics' Head in the Clouds played on 10 screens and found $51,695
from the weekend, averaging $5,170 per screen, while the foreign language Zelary
earned $30,970 from six sites for a per theater average of $5,162.
Next weekend sees the bow of the Julianne Moore thriller The Forgotten,
which will have to compete with 20th Century Fox's lighter First Daughter.
Buena Vista Pictures' The Last Shot will also enter the picture, as will
the horror spoof Shaun of the Dead. In addition, Walter Salles' The
Motorcycle Diaries will drive into theaters in Los Angeles and New York.
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