Wedding Weaker than Expected but Still Wins

August 4, 2003

Most movies did better than expected this week, however in most cases it was just a slight increase. And one of the movies that missed expectations really missed them. This led to an overall drop in the box office, 8.8% from last week and 7.7% from last year.

While American Wedding finished first, it didn't dominate the box office like predicted. $33.4 million is quite short of the predicted $42 million, but not bad for a movie that cost $50 - $60 million to make, (advertising not included.) Reviewers were quite kind to the movie giving it a 55%, just shy of the overall positive mark. But considering it's a sequel, longevity at the box office is still an issue.

To say Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over didn't live up to expectations would be unfair. Sure, it only made $19.5 million when I predicted $21 million. However, my prediction was higher than most and the drop was only 42%, much better than most movies this year. Nearly $69 million after two weeks is also a great success and it should become the highest grossing movie in the Spy Kids Trilogy.

Just 25 days into its run Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl crossed the $200 million dollar mark. That ties Titanic for 10th fastest to reach that milestone. It should beat X-Men 2 sometime this week to rise to fourth place for 2003.

Seabiscuit did better than expected dropping only 15% to $17.6 million. However, that was with an increase of nearly 22% in theatre count. Taking that into account it’s a Per Theatre average drop of a little more than 30%, still impressive. But it is most likely not impressive enough for its budget.

Bad Boys II did much better in its third week dropping only 42%. The movie earned $12.7 million and could beat the original's worldwide gross with just its domestic run.

Gigli did better than expected both critically and financially. That is not to say that it did well in either case, cause it didn't. I just had really, really low expectations. It got better ratings than Boat Trip and better box office than From Justin to Kelly. Both were mild surprises. However, 7% overall and 3% from the Cream of the Crop reviewers (which was much lower than the 10% Boat Trip received) and only $3.8 million at the box office were both incredibly low. This movie's final box office could end up being less than one tenth its total budget.

On a much happier note, Finding Nemo actually climbed a spot in its tenth week in release. It reached $320 million and now sits in 9th place all time.

Also on a happy note, Fox Searchlight expanded Bend it Like Beckham into more than 1000 theatres this week. This is almost twice its previous high of 555. It pulled in another $1.8 million the most it earned in a single weekend since Memorial Day and by the end of next weekend should cross $30 million.

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Filed under: Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl, Bad Boys II, Seabiscuit, Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, American Wedding, Bend it Like Beckham, Gigli