Weekend Box Office -- The Adjectives Are Flying!

Even by hyperbolic LA standards, the Hollywood Reporter is hyperventilating over fairly normal weekend box office figures. In its roundup of the weekend grosses, the HR's Nicole Sperling said "The Departed" "held incredibly strong in its second week, falling only 31%." Actually, falling 31% for a wide release film geared towards adults in its second week is a very good sign, but hardly remarkable. Falling only, say, 10% or increasing your grosses in a second week would be "incredibly strong." Falling 31% is good news but not jaw-dropping. Of course, this movie is a blockbuster by Martin Scorsese standards and will easily be his top-grossing film of all time. BNot to be outdone, the Biblical film "One Night With The King" earned a "remarkable" $4.3 million. It grossed $4,730 per screen, which is good but not head-spinning. And of course it was released by Fox. I was caught by surprise by another faith-based film, "Facing The Giants." Made by two brothers with an all-volunteer cast, it's about a born-again high school football coach and is released independently by Samuel Goldwyn. It's on 347 screens and grossed less than $1 million. But it only dropped 10% from the weekend before and has already hit $4 million in total grosses. That's a great number for an indie film and even better for one so devoid of a high profile. Terry Gilliam's latest "Tideland," was a flop on opening. And "Infamous," the second Truman Capote/"In Cold Blood" movie in a year was definitely cold-shouldered. It grossed $435,000 its first weekend on 179 screens for a paltry $2,430 per screen average. In contrast, "Capote" grossed $491,000 its opening weekend...on just 12 screens. And Helen Mirren's "The Queen" grossed $1.2 million on just 46 screens. John Cameron Mitchell's "Shortbus" is doing fine with its target audience, hitting $400,000 from 25 screens. It seems possible to run a while and hit the $3 million mark that "Hedwig and the Angry Inch" did in 2001. The Top 10 per Box Office Prophets:

1. The Grudge 2 -- $22 million total
2. The Departed -- $18.7 million ($56.6 mil total)
3. Man Of The Year -- $12.6 million total
4. Open Season -- $11 million ($59.2 mil total)
5. Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning -- $7.8 mil ($30.5 mil total)
6. The Marine -- $7.0 million total
7. The Guardian -- $5.8 mil ($41.1 mil total)
8. Employee Of The Month -- $5.6 mil ($19.9 mil total)
9. One Night With The King -- $4.3 mil total
10. Jackass Number Two -- $3.3 mil ($68.4 mil total)