Weekend: 24th - 27th August 2006
The weekend chart was spared the embarrassment of its top film sinking below the $1m mark, although only barely, as
horror/comedy Snakes on a Plane stirred up $1.02m to win the frame. Avoiding
cringe-worthy sub-$1m figures mustered through weekend four of March, the accomplishment may only be temporary, as an even
weaker weekend looms ahead. Despite the weekend's low-yield number one, the cumulative gross for the session was actually
up, almost 4% better than last weekend. Opening on 225 screens, the count was probably much wider than warranted, with
its ultra-soft $4,541 average landing in the territory of Benchwamers and
Sentinel.
The launch for Snakes just managed to squeeze into the August Openers chart ahead of last year's horror flick The Skeleton Key and behind the $1.03m of 2004's Walking Tall. The Hudson flick closed to $3.19m while The Rock could drive his revenge tale to just $2.32m. On Samuel L. Jackson's chart, the opening was quite similar to the $1.19m of last year's horrid XXX²: The Next Level, which went on to finish with an unfairly high $3.28m. The launch was also very close to the $1.07m of the similarly-themed snaked sequel Anacondas from 2004. The Lopez-less bone cruncher ended with $2.48m in Australia. Compared to the U.S. pace, the opening for Snakes on a Plane comes in 26% weaker* in Australia, and after counting in the U.S.' Wednesday launch, Australia's end of weekend cume stands 33% weaker*. The opening margin* was a touch more removed from the 16% smaller* opening of Anacondas and also the 13% smaller* opening of the XXX sequel. Compared to my opening-weekend forecast, Snakes' $1.03m actual was 79% accurate to my $1.3m prediction. 
Last weekend's and two-week champ Miami Vice again took the toughest hit in the top
ten, off 43%. The Farrell-Foxx action remake of the 1980's TV show collected $0.7m through the frame. Despite posting
weekly numbers from the go that haven't really been all that inspiring, Miami Vice has still cooked up a reasonable
box office. After three weeks, the Michael Mann-directed yarn now has $5.59m in the bank.
It's certainly not a cracking cume however, and it'll do little to balance the lopsided books of the production. Compared to Mann and Foxx's Collateral, Miami Vice is now tracking 12% behind the Cruise starrer, out from a 7% smaller margin last weekend. On co-star Colin Farrell's listing, Vice passed the $4.96m of Phone Booth over the weekend, but can it reach the $7.65m of his third-best grosser, the ill-fated Daredevil? Compared to the U.S. pace, Miami Vice is now tracking 1% ahead* in Australia, reversing the margin which stood at 3% weaker* last weekend. That was assisted by a third weekend cume which finished 49% stronger than in the U.S. Despite the film receiving the harshest declines of the last two weeks in the local charts, Miami Vice is relishing the lack of competition. The film was off 54% in its third in the U.S., against much heavier competition. 
The second of the three new openers to enter the top five this weekend was Fearless.
The Jet Li-starring pic about Huo Yuanjia and his journey from ass-kicker to respected ass-kicker opened to $0.69m. The
opening was unremarkable in almost every way, with its medium 139 screen count justified by a rounded average $5,028.
For Jet Li, the opening was his lowest yet in Australian cinemas, coming in under the $0.86m of his pervious flick Unleashed, which closed to $2.68m, a far cry from his Hero days of $2.25m. The opening was almost spot on the $0.70m of last year's action sequel Transporter 2, with the fit-for-video release collecting $1.87m in Australia. 
You, Me and Dupree was off only 22% over the weekend, again managing its best
weekend hold to date. The five-week old release was down two places over the weekend to fourth, but still collected $0.64m.
The story of third wheel Dupree who mooches off his newly married friends now has $8.72m in the bank and continues to show
the strength required to reach $10m, which would be remarkable.
On the 2006 Chart, Dupree is now the 16th-best of the year, passing Nanny McPhee. Unmoved on both Owen Wilson and Kate Hudson's chart, Dupree is tracking just 4% behind January's $10m flick Memoirs of a Geisha, up from 7% last weekend. Compared to the U.S. pace, Dupree is now tracking 23% ahead* in Australia, up from a 17% lead last weekend*. The fifth weekend itself was a commanding 231% better*. 
Rounding out the top five was the third newbie Thank You For Smoking. The
Aaron Eckhart starring flick, also featuring Maria Bello, Katie Holmes and Sam Elliot opened to $0.58m over the weekend.
Lighting up in 89 theatres, Smoking averaged $6,536 from each, which was the highest of the three new films and
the highest of the weekend's top 20. Adding in last weekend's preview, the Fox film now has $0.77m to its name.
The opening was merely the 60th-best of The Year so far, landing ahead of the $0.55m of February's Derailed and behind the $0.66m of April's so-so performer American Dreamz. The Aniston-Owen flick closed to $1.36m while the Quaid-Grant comedy collected $1.62m. Thank You For Smoking should hold better than both of those, perhaps moreso resembling the $2.4m of A History of Violence. The top 20 films collected $6.8m over the weekend, up 3.5% on last weekend and up 19% on this weekend from Last Year when Wedding Crashers again easily led the way with $2.04m in its third weekend while other holdovers The Skeleton Key and Unleashed did better their second weekend's than they should have. The weekend was down 28% on this weekend from Two Years Ago when The Bourne Supremacy finally reversed the August blues with a smashing $4.88m opening, pushing Hellboy to second with $0.66m, off 55%. Weekend Coming: 31st August - 3rd September 2006 
Of the new releases this weekend, few look set to do any decent business, with Silent Hill the best chance to knock
Snakes from the top spot, although that'll be no difficult feat. Starring Rhada Mitchell as a mother who seeks
answers as to why her adopted daughter constantly sleep walks and talks about a place called Silent Hill, the film was
directed by Christophe Gans (Brotherhood of The Wolf). Co-starring Sean Bean, the video game adaptation should do well
amongst the horror crowd despite the five month wait.
Released in the U.S. back in April, Silent Hill collected a decent $US20.2m on opening, knocking Scary Movie 4 from the top. The $US50m Sony release suffered the usual kind of falls for its genre, eventually finishing with $46.9m in the U.S. The performance was a touch under the $US23.0m opening and $US51.2m final of 2004's video adaptation sequel Resident Evil: Apocalypse and was a happy improvement of the $US15.5m opening and $US28.2m final of last year's Doom. Can Silent Hill reach $1m this weekend? 2002's video game adaptation Resident Evil opened to $1.01m in Australia, eventually finishing with $2.71m, while its sequel bowed to $1.19m and closed with $2.90m. Those films opened an average of about 45% weaker* than they did in the U.S. Other recent horror flicks like The Omen and Hostel and Final Destination 3 all failed to top $1m on opening in Australia, despite very good openings in the U.S. Silent Hill will be lucky to reach $1m, but it'll be number one. It could finish at $0.95m this weekend. 
Also opening this weekend is Clerks 2: The Passion of the Clerks. The sequel to 1994's Kevin Smith original
Clerks, the story follows the same characters and their lazy ways, only 10 years later on. Starring Brian
O'Halloran, Jeff Anderson, Rosario Dawson, Jason Mewes, Clerks II also features director Kevin Smith.
Clerks II opened in the U.S. in late July to $US10.1m, good enough only for sixth place. Falling harder than most horror flicks, the $US5m film ended up with $US23.9m in the U.S. Sill, the film did much better than the original, which totalled $3.2m in 1994 and was similar to Smith's last directorial effort Jersey Girl, which collected $US25.3m all up. His two films before that however collected $US30m a piece, Dogma and Jay and Silent Bob Strike Back. In Australia, Jersey Girl opened to a tepid $481k, going on to collect $1.48m in Australia. 2002's Jay and Silent Bob did better, opening to $0.76m and finishing with $1.97m while 2000's Dogma opened with a similar $0.79m and a better $2.56m final. Fortunately for Clerks II, it'll be looking for something closer to the latter examples than those Jersey Girl figures in Australia. Competition elsewhere is soft and Smith fans should enjoy this latest offering. Clerks II could collect $0.7m this weekend. * Based on a US index of 10/1 ($US/$AU) with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head. ^ Based on a UK index of 1.27/1 (£/$AU) with currency, ticket prices, population and cinema visits per head. |