Pacifier Gets Moviegoers Excited

March 7, 2005

Overall it was a good weekend as every movie in the top five matched expectations, or at least came very close, and the number one film topped predictions by a wide, wide margin. However, the news was not all good, as the weekend was relatively flat from last week with just a 1.1% increase. Compared to last year the figure was much worse at 14.5% decrease. 2005's lead over 2004 evaporated to just 1%, $1.427 billion to $1.413 billion.

The Pacifier shocked analysts by not only taking top spot over the weekend, but doing it in such a convincing manner. The film managed an impressive $30.6 million despite earning the ire of critics; its reviews sunk to just 20% positive over the weekend, which is in line with expectations. Poor reviews combined with the extreme competition next weekend will likely result in short legs at the box office, but the film is well on its way to becoming a financial success.

Be Cool's performance over the weekend was almost exactly as expected, as it missed expectations by less than $1 million with $23.5 million. Weak reviewed plus the sequel effect will likely result is short legs but the film should still show a profit as long as it has either strong international or home market results. As for how it will affect John Travolta's career, it can't be considered his latest comeback film, but it won't kill his career either.

Hitch was expected to earn $12.5 million and it brought in $12.1 million. The film is just over a week away from hitting $150 million and a couple of weeks after that it should show a profit.

Diary of a Mad Black Woman dropped a little faster than expected at $11.0 million, but given its production budget it is already a success.

Million Dollar Baby may have won nearly all the major Oscars, but that didn't translate into major gains at the box office. It did climb, but by less than 11% to $8.1 million making $100 million that much harder to hit.

The only film to fail to live up to expectations by a serious margin was The Jacket, which earned less than half its Friday prediction at just $2.7 million. Mediocre reviews (even though it was the best reviewed wide release of the week), and a per theater average of just $2,000 will likely result in very short legs with a multiplier of 2.5 or less.


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Filed under: Hitch, The Pacifier, Million Dollar Baby, Be Cool, Diary of a Mad Black Woman, The Jacket