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Source:
Box Office Guru
Posted on: Mon, Jul 23, 2007 23:55:53
Written By: Michael Dance
MichaelDance@TheCinemaSource.com
This weekend's top ten (in millions):
Things were healthy at the box office this weekend as four different movies made over $20 million. The latest Adam Sandler flick I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry
opened with $34.2 million, according to final figures, while the other new release, the musical Hairspray, took $27.5 million. While the latter had the lesser gross, it can be seen as the true winner in
that many predicted a much smaller opening. Sandler's flick, by contrast, opened lower than his normal comedic vehicles, which usually hit around $40
million; while still a decent number (and good enough for #1, after all) it's in fact his lowest opening (not counting more dramatic roles like Reign Over Me) since Little Nicky failed
in 2000.
Chuck and Larry got terrible reviews, but
that's par for Sandler's course and probably didn't affect moviegoers much. But the rave reviews for Hairspray certainly helped that film; a big-
budget musical bowing in the middle of the summer was a gamble no matter how you look at it, and it paid off for studio New Line, which will probably enjoy
small declines in the coming weeks thanks to good word-of-mouth.
Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix
dropped by 58% in its second weekend to 32.5 million. That's a steep drop, but expected for such a large blockbuster that had to deal with the odd
competition of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows opening in bookstores Friday at midnight. It should stabilize in the coming weeks thanks to the
summer season, although even if it doesn't, it will surely muscle its way past the $250 million that the lowest-grosser of the series, Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban,
made in 2003.
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