<html> <head> <meta name="description" content="The Weekend Comments Page"> <meta name="keywords" content="The Weekend Comments Page"> <title>The Weekend Comments Page</title> <style TYPE="text/css"><!-- BODY, TD, INPUT, SELECT {font-family:Comic Sans MS;font-size:12pt;color:black} A:link {text-decoration: none; color: #696969;} A:visited {text-decoration: none; color: #696969;} A:active {text-decoration: none; color: #696969;} A:hover {text-decoration: none; color: orange;} --></style> </head> <body BGPROPERTIES="FIXED" background="images/back.gif"> <center><img border="0" src="images/head-ausreport.jpg" width="400" height="60"></center> <br><br> <table> <tr> <td> Weekend: 6th - 9th July 2006<br> <br><br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <img SRC="pics/piratesofthecaribbean2-2.jpg" height="160" width="90" BORDER="0"> Opening weekends of underperformance, of which there have been far too many in 2006, are now just a memory thanks to one of the most confident debuts in Australian Box Office history, with <a href="id-deadmanschest.html"><i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest</i></a> wowing the doubters countrywide. But while the All-Time record tumbled with style in the U.S., that same mark remained solidly unchallenged in Australia. That said, the special circumstances which greeted record-holder <i>The Two Towers</i> through its Boxing-Day opening of 2002 are widely accepted as such, special. On the <a href="openaus.html">All-Time Opening Weekend</a> list in Australia, <i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest</i> had proved itself unequivocally as one of modern cinema's box-office big guns. <br><br> Scoring $11.22m over the four-day weekend, the BVI-distributed sequel to 2003's runaway hit ranks as the eighth-best launch in Australia, topping the $11.18m three-day opening of 2003's fellow super-sequel <a href="id-matrixreloaded.html"><i>The Matrix Reloaded</i></a> and coming in behind the $11.94m of 2004's <a href="id-prisonerofazkaban.html"><i>The Prisoner of Azkaban</i></a>. For distributor BVI it was easily a new company best, excelling the $8.04m of 2003's monster <a href="id-findingnemo.html"><i>Finding Nemo</i></a>. It also stands as the new best opener for the month of <a href="openaus-jul.html">July</a>, easily topping the $7.31m of 2003's <a href="id-terminator3.html"><i>Rise of the Machines</i></a> and bringing the month into line with May and June as a month for potential lucrative openings. The opening weekend for <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> got out to a good start on Thursday, opening with a daily figure of $2.7m, the ninth-best opening day in Australia, topping the $2.62m of 1999's <a href="id-phantommenace.html"><i>The Phantom Menace</i></a> and behind the $3.07m of 2002's second prequel <a href="id-attackoftheclones.html"><i>Attack of the Clones</i></a>. <br><br> Opening on an ultra-wide 489 <a href="highestscreencount.html">Screens</a>, <i>Dead Man's Chest</i>'s booked one more than 2002's <a href="id-chamberofsecrets.html"><i>The Chamber of Secrets</i></a>, which in its day had a new record with 488, but was some distance behind the still third-placed widest-release <a href="id-revengeofthesith.html"><i>Revenge of the Sith</i></a>, which opened on 535 screens last year. It was also 72 screens behind the 561 count of May's bloated release <a href="id-davincicode.html"><i>The Da Vinci Code</i></a>, still the country's widest release. Whilst the Tom Hanks flick comfortably retains that title, it's far less impressive on the <a href="highestscreenaverage.html">Average</a> front. <i>Dead Man's Chest</i>'s average of $22,936 stands as the 14th strongest from releases debuting on 100 screens or more, while <i>Da Vinci</i>'s $15,362 hangs down at number 82. <br><br> Already ranking in position 239 on the <a href="boxaus.html">All-Time Chart</a> in Australia, on Sunday <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> became the 300th film to cross the $10m mark in Australia. On the <a href="boxaus2006.html">2006 Chart</a> it became the 11th film of the year to achieve it. Bowing a hot 117% better than <a href="id-piratesofthecaribbean.html"> <i>Curse of the Black Pearl</i></a>, <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> has started on an excellent route to reach a sky-high final in Australia, but how high can it go? It'll surely be the top-grossing film of 2006. The opening is a dandy 30% better than current chart champ <a href="id-davincicode.html"><i>The Da Vinci Code</i></a> which now has $26.5m in the bank. With coin only now trickling in, the Dan Brown adaptation will close with a little over $27m. A great total, but somewhat wanting. <br><br> <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> brings with it an appeal more like a <i>Harry Potter</i> or <i>Lord of the Rings</i> than it does <i>Spider-Man</i> or <i>Superman</i>, and in Australia, that means a lot. It's a universal appeal, old and young, male and female alike and that's its key to leaping through the $30m mark and beyond. Of the releases since 2004's sensation <a href="id-shrek2.html"><i>Shrek</i></a> turned the box office world around with a $50.35m haul in Australia, the tussle for box office supremacy since then was waged between <a href="id-revengeofthesith.html"><i>Revenge of the Sith</i></a> and <a href="id-gobletoffire.html"><i>Goblet of Fire</i></a>. A close race by any measure, but when you're talking about both films exceeding $35m and finalising just $248,907 apart, it's just downright scary in terms of similarity. So who won? Fox's <i>Sith</i> had the bigger start and collected a final $35,459,684 in Australia, but despite <i>Narnia</i>'s festive rule, <i>Goblet</i> had good legs through Christmas and January to finish with $35,708,591, the best since box office total since <i>Shrek 2</i>. <i>Narnia</i> brings up decent third with $35,155,247. <br><br> So they were 2005's big three, with <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> now looking to be the sole candidate of 2006 to pass $30m, will the year's event traffic condense into this single film, expanding its final gross above them all? $36m isn't too difficult to imagine, especially since the year's remaining slate of films looks so dull in comparison. As a June release, no one expected <i>Shrek 2</i> to bring it to the leggy Dec/Jan performance of <i>Return of the King</i>. The final <i>Rings</i> film was a phenomenon, one that having disposed of <i>Crocodile Dundee</i>, was supposed to hold its number two position for some time. As a fellow mid-year release, is it too bold to imagine <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> approaching some other December-released uber grosses? <i>Pirates 2</i> must challenge the $37.39m of BVI's current box office king <i>Finding Nemo</i> before hand, however as mentioned, the <i>Pirates</i> sequel has already stolen records away from the fish tale. <br><br> The Gore Verbinski-directed film will need some extraordinary, non-holiday holding power in the coming weeks to pass <i>Nemo</i> and challenge the likes of <i>Rings</i>. Few films gross in excess of $30m and not have school holidays falling around weeks 4 or 5. The holidays end in NSW this Friday 16th and in SA and WA next week and then the country is done until late September. Hits of the last 10 years which powered to excellent grosses mainly on holding power, despite a lack of holidays, include <i>Titanic</i>, <i>Gladiator</i> and <i>My Big Fat Greek Wedding</i>, not exactly genre matches for <i>Chest</i>, but then they didn't have plus $10m openings either. <br><br> On the actors' front, the success of <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> will do the most for <a href="ida-orlandobloom.html">Orlando Bloom</a>'s chart. With such an opening merely his third-best, the list of successful films he's appeared in is impressive. Currently <a href="ida-tomhanks.html">Tom Hanks</a> holds the cumulative record with just over $250m in box office receipts in Australia, but with $234m, Bloom has passed <a href="ida-eddiemurphy.html">Eddie Murphy</a>'s $230m and will have passed $250m in a couple of weeks. With <i>Shrek 3</i> up against <i>Pirates 3</i> next year, it'll be an interesting challenge between Orlando to hold and Murphy to take back the title which Hanks only just stole from him with <i>Da Vinci</i>. On <a href="ida-johnnydepp.html">Johnny Depp</a>'s chart, <i>Chest</i> stands out along with <i>Black Pearl</i> and <i>Charlie</i> as rare hits on his extensive resume. It took over 15 years, but Depp finally has a command of the box office. <br><br> Compared to the U.S. pace, <i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest</i> opened 15% lower* in Australia. While amongst peers in Australia, the U.S. launch for <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> was without precedent. Its U.S. record list reads like an all-time almanac of the most coveted box-office achievements, something that in fairness, it just hasn't done in Australia. 15% behind is actually a slim margin for the crowds it's pulled in the U.S., numbers that through mid week continue to be just as impressive. Back in 2003, <i>Curse of the Black Pearl</i>'s opening weekend came in 11% better* in Australia, although due to the mid-week opening in the U.S., it stood 27% behind* after weekend one. All told, the film's $25.45m final ended up 17% weaker* locally. Compared to my weekend forecast, <i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest</i>'s opening of $11.22m was a sweet 96% accurate to my $10.8m prediction. <br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <img SRC="pics/supermanreturns.jpg" height="160" width="90" BORDER="0"> <a href="id-supermanreturns.html"><i>Superman Returns</i></a> might have had chins wagging last weekend in lively discussions about its underwhelming debut and dire predictions for weekend two, but with attention firmly drawn elsewhere on the box office charts, discussion about its performance has fallen harder than its box office. Warner Bros. might well appreciate that analysts are in a flurry over other things at the moment, moving attention away from their expensive <i>Superman Returns</i>' super-worrying second-weekend numbers, and with a next-best figure of $1.96m through the frame, it's no wonder eyes were barely able to be drawn away from the top spot. <br><br> 62%. It's a terrible number in any weekend. It's something you're used to seeing from a top-heavy family film once the holidays expire around the country and their audience is effectively locked up in class rooms. It's a number you've seen before from <a href="id-hulk.html"><i>Hulk</i></a> - but in its <i>fourth</i> weekend. It's true, that through similar intense new competition, <a href="id-prisonerofazkaban.html"><i>Azkaban</i></a> dropped 66% in weekend two, but it debuted to almost $12m. That's acceptable, this one, after a debut of just $5.23m, is not so much merely unacceptable as it is completely disastrous for <i>Superman Returns</i>' hopes of becoming a legitimate blockbuster in this country. That chance is now gone. <br><br> Perhaps if it had had a second weekend free of such polarising, audience-sapping competition, it would have drawn respectable second-weekend numbers, something around a 50 to 55% drop, but that still would have been disappointing given that films such as <a href="id-batmanbegins.html"><i>Batman Begins</i></a> and <a href="id-fantasticfour.html"><i>Fantastic Four</i></a> did much better. Counting in those second-weekend numbers, <i>Superman Returns</i>' two-week total does draw a fraction less shame than its second-weekend fall does. At $9.08m in 11 days, the Bryan Singer-directed picture his levitated to position 14 on the <a href="boxaus2006.html">2006</a> chart, passing <a href="id-scarymovie4.html"><i>Scary Movie 4</i></a> and just a mid-week away from $10m. <br><br> After a launch 1% stronger than <a href="id-piratesofthecaribbean.html"><i>Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl</i></a>, <i>Superman Returns</i> is now tracking 13% behind the Depp-starring film's $10.45m two-week total. The 2003 flick saw an average decline rate of 31% in its first 10 weeks, something the backers of the man of steel can only dream about. Compared to director Singer's previous flick <a href="id-xmen2.html"><i>X2</i></a>, <i>Superman Returns</i> is tracking 22% down, out from a debut 13% smaller (17% counting in <i>X2</i>'s Wednesday numbers). Compared to Warners' crowd-pleasing <a href="id-batmanbegins.html"><i>Batman Begins</i></a>, <i>Superman Returns</i> is now tracking 9% ahead of the film's $8.37m two-week total, down from a 26% better opening last weekend. The Christian Bale flick, itself a financial underperformer upon opening, was off a very light 30% in weekend two. <br><br> Compared to the U.S. pace, <i>Superman Returns</i> is now tracking 36% behind* in Australia, a touch up on the 38% smaller* pace at the close of last weekend. Both margins include the original U.S. mid-week figures. While last weekend the opening frame stood just 1% smaller* in Australia, <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> seems to have a harder effect on <i>Superman Returns</i> here than in the U.S., where it dipped a still rough 59%, but at least under 60%. The second-weekend frame was 10% weaker* in Australia. <br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <img SRC="pics/overthehedge.jpg" height="160" width="90" BORDER="0"> Beyond the limited-release anti-blockbusters <a href="id-wahwah.html"><i>Wah-Wah</i></a> and <a href="id-tencanoes.html"> <i>Ten Canoes</i></a>, it was <a href="id-overthehendge.html"><i>Over The Hedge</i></a> which held up the best in the top ten against <i>Dead Man's Chest</i>'s chart dominance, off 30% in its third weekend. The all-CGI flick about a group of animals who wake from hibernation to find suburbia encroaching on their local wood collected $1.63m through the weekend. That enabled <i>Over The Hedge</i> to be the second of three films to cross the $10m mark over the weekend, upping its total to $11.51m. <br><br> That puts the UIP/Universal flick in position 7 on the <a href="openaus2006.html">2006 Chart</a>, passing fellow June 22nd release and the faster burning <a href="id-click.html"><i>Click</i></a> and behind the $13.50m of January's decent performer <a href="id-chickenlittle.html"><i>Chicken Little</i></a>, which it should pass after the coming weekend. On the <a href="idg-computeranimated.html">Computer Animated</a> chart <i>Over The Hedge</i> passed the $9.56m of 1998's <a href="id-antz.html"><i>Antz</i></a> and the $10.16m of <a href="id-polarexpress.html"><i>The Polar Express</i></a> for slot number 17, ready to pass the aforementioned <i>Chicken</i>, now in 16th. It's currently tracking 38% ahead of <a href="id-robots.html"><i>Robots</i></a> ($13.82m final) and 3% behind <a href="id-sharktale.html"><i>Shark Tale</i></a> ($15.32m final). <br><br> Compared to the U.S. pace, <i>Over The Hedge</i> is now tracking a reduced 2% ahead* in Australia, down from last weekend's 8% lead*. The third weekend frame was 21% weaker* in Australia, down from the 14% smaller* second lap. Although the film did manage to hold on relatively well at 30%, the fall was still larger than the U.S.' 24% dip. However, <i>Over The Hedge</i> fell be over 50% through weekends four and five, so the local final does have a small shot at remaining positive*, needing to pass <i>Shark Tale</i>'s final to do so. <br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <img SRC="pics/click.jpg" height="160" width="90" BORDER="0"> Joining the live-action trend of the weekend, <a href="id-click.html"><i>Click</i></a> was also down by over 50% as the exodus of audiences over to Captain Jack and friends saw Sandler's latest slide 55%. The what-if comedy where Sandler gains control of a universal remote collected $1.20m through the frame, raising the cume to $10.97m and giving Sony Pictures their second local $10m hit of the year after <i>Da Vinci</i>. <br><br> The total sets the films in position 9 on the <a href="boxaus2006.html">2006</a> chart, passing the $10.96m of Tom Cruise's latest, <a href="id-missionimpossible3.html"><i>M:I3</i></a> and behind the advancing <i>Hedge</i> and <i>Chest</i>. For <a href="ida-adamsandler.html">Sandler</a>, the flick has now passed the $10.80m of <a href="id-angermanagement.html"> <i>Anger Management</i></a> and the $10.97m final of last year's good performer <a href="id-longestyard.html"><i>The Longest Yard</i></a>. Having passed the $11.22m final of <i>The Waterboy</i> through mid-week, next on the list for <i>Click</i> is the $14.72m final of <i>Big Daddy</i>. <br><br> Compared to the U.S. pace, <i>Click</i> is now tracking a smaller 4% ahead* in Australia, down from the 10% lead of last weekend. After opening three weeks ago 9% stronger and scoring an impressive second weekend 35% better*, the rough 55% fall meant the third frame was barely stronger at less than 1% better*. <i>Click</i> was down by a slimmer 40% in the U.S. through weekend three. <br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <img SRC="pics/cars2.jpg" height="160" width="90" BORDER="0"> <a href="id-cars.html"><i>Cars</i></a> dipped another slot from fourth to fifth in its fifth weekend, off 41%. The decline was better than most films in release, especially the live-actioners as mentioned, although compared to what the film did in the U.S. in its fifth, also against <i>Dead Man's Chest</i>, its a little disappointing. In fairness, it doesn't have the fresher <i>Hedge</i> to fend off in the states. Collecting $0.79m through the weekend, the Pixar release set in a world occupieed entirely by cars, now has $15.51m. <br><br> The total pushed <i>Cars</i> beyond the $15.32m collected by <a href="id-sharktale.html"><i>Shark Tale</i></a> in 2004, moving the flick into position 11 on the <a href="igd-computeranimated.html">Computer Animated</a> chart. That's probably where it'll stay unless it find some serious second legs as it needs another $5m to reach position 10 and overtake <a href="id-abugslife.html"><i>A Bugs Life</i></a> with $20.02m. On the <a href="openaus2006.html">2006</a> chart <i>Cars</i> has now past Fox's <a href="id-walktheline.html"><i>Walk the Line</i></a> at $15.51m and looks set to pass that same studio's <a href="id-laststand.html"><i>The Last Stand</i></a> now at $16.48m and climbing slower than <i>Cars</i>. <br><br> On <a href="ida-owenwilson.html">Owen Wilson</a>'s list <i>Cars</i> has past the $14.32m of 1998's <i>Armageddon</i> and should nix the $16.77m of last year's successful <a href="id-weddingcrashers.html"><i>The Wedding Crashers</i></a> too. Compared to the U.S. pace, <i>Cars</i> is now tracking 25% behind* in Australia, out from the 24% smaller* pace last weekend. Down 41% in Australia, the flick was off only 26% in the U.S.. <br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <hr width=80%><br><br> The top 20 films collected a sensational $19.01m over the weekend, up 21.5% from last weekend and up 8% from this weekend <a href="ausweek14-07-05.html">Last Year</a> when <a href="id-fantasticfour.html"><i>Fantastic Four</i></a> topped the charts with $3.76m just ahead of fellow strong opener <a href="id-bewitched.html"><i>Bewitched</i></a> with $3.57m in second. The champ from the weekend before <a href="id-waroftheworlds.html"><i>War of the Worlds</i></a> was down 47% to a $3.55m frame, with just over $200k separating the top three. The weekend was up 25% on this weekend from <a href="ausweek15-07-04.html">Two Years Ago</a> when <a href="id-spiderman2.html"><i>Spider-Man 2</i></a> found redemption in weekend two with a great 36% hold to $4.49m, although overshadowed by <a href="id-shrek2.html"><i>Shrek 2</i></a>'s amazing $4.26m fourth weekend, off just 20%. <br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <br><hr width=80%><br><br> Weekend Coming: 13th - 16th July 2006<br><br> <!-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------> <img SRC="pics/littleman.jpg" height="160" width="90" BORDER="0"> <i>Little Man</i> heads a weekend of new releases that seem to offer some simple niche appeal more than anything else. The next Wayans brothers comedy won't be pulling in the family market but might be able to find an audience in the teenager category who've already seen <i>Dead Man's Chest</i> three times. The film follows the bizarre storyline of Darryl (Shawn Wayans) who in adopting a new son doesn't realise he's actually adopted a criminal dwarf (Marlon Wayans). As with their previous family efforts, <i>Little Man</i> is directed by Keenen Ivory Wayans and scarily also features the brothers' nephew Damien Wayans. <br><br> Although held accountable, the brothers really can't be blamed for <i>Little Man</i> reaching screens, their previous effort <i>White Chicks</i> did enough business to justify it. That flick opened with $US19.7m in June 2004 and went on to collect a brilliant $US70.8m. At a cost of $US37m, it was a bankable hit for Sony. In Australia, <i>White Chicks</i> opened to $1.36m, enjoyed some great holds and closed to a fine $5.05m. Kind of the same 'interesting' success which Rob Schneider seems to have no trouble achieving. The ultimate insult, <i>Little Man</i> could be a force enough to dislodge <i>Superman Returns</i> from second place in its third weekend. <i>Little Man</i> may even be a bit stronger than <i>Chicks</i> and collect $1.4m this weekend. <br><br> <br><br> <br><br> * Based on a US index of 10/1 ($US/$AU) with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head.<br> ^ Based on a UK index of 1.27/1 (£/$AU) with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head.</td> </td> </tr> </table> <p align="center"><br><br> <a href="ausweek13-07-06.html">The Top 20 Films</a><br> <br><br> <p align="center">Written By Paul Boschen<br>© 1997-Present MovieMarshal<a href="mailto:moviemarshal@hotmail.com"></a></p> </body> </html>