Double Australian Box Office Report (8th - 11th / 15th - 18th September 2005)

[FilmBuff84]

Here's the Top 20 films sitting at the Australian Box Office for the weekend Thursday the 8th to Sunday the 11th of September 2005.



Charlie's chocolate still tasty

(1) CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
(2) (Debut) STEALTH
(3) (2) WEDDING CRASHERS
(4) (3) RED EYE
(5) (Debut) THE PERFECT CATCH
(6) (Advance Screenings) WALLACE AND GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
(7) (Debut) LITTLE FISH
(8) (Debut) SKY HIGH
(9) (6) LOOK BOTH WAYS
(10) (4) THE SKELETON KEY
(11) (Debut) THE ADVENTURES OF SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL IN 3D
(12) (5) UNLEASHED
(13) (Debut) SALAAM NAMASTE
(14) (Debut) THE PERFECT MAN
(15) (Re-Entry) WILD SAFARI 3D
(16) (7) MONSTER-IN-LAW
(17) (12) OYSTER FARMER
(18) (8) THE ISLAND
(19) (10) P.S.
(20) (9) KICKING & SCREAMING

There was an onslaught of new entries brought into cinemas as the school holiday period began, but none were enough to knock Johnny Depp's sweet tasting CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY off the top. With only a 41% drop, and a further $4,142,974 added to the bank, the Tim Burton flick is up to a stellar $12,928,120 (US $148,649,437) after only two weeks. Alarmingly no other film managed over a million, the closest being second fiddle [B]STEALTH[B] which debuted at #2 with $857,875 (US $9,863,973), far off from mathcing the openings of director Rob Cohen's previous action outings The Fast and the Furious ($3.30m) and XXX ($3.19m). Vince and Owen kept the laughs coming in their 5th week, only off a slight 31%. All up the duo have scored a wonderful $14,752,758 (US $169,629,394). Hollywood's new 'it' girl Rachel McAdams follwed her Crashing co-stars at #4 with her thriller vehicle RED EYE, which dipped 38% to maintain hold in the Top 5. After two weeks, her in-flight fright fest with Cillian Murphy has earnt $2,203,363 (US $25,334,593). Seeing a name change to their outing 'Fever Pitch' didn't do much to alter the performance of the Drew Barrymore/Jimmy Fallon comedy THE PERFECT CATCH as it surfaced within the Top 5 with an underwhelming $521,890 (US $6,000,768). With the third highest screen count in the Top 20, even on advance screenings, WALLACE AND GROMIT have to be a little disappointed they didn't make good on the holiday period and the solid reviews as they placed at #6 with THE CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT. Before opening nationally the following week, they will have an advance of $510,831 (US $5,873,610). Cate Blanchett's return to an Aussie film production, LITTLE FISH, popped up at #7 averageing a great $10,089 on its 45 screens. Co-starring Sam Neill and Hugo Weaving, the drama managed $453,990 (US $5,220,044). Looking to expand their screens over the week as they open in other cities, kiddie flavoured outings SKY HIGH and SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL had slow starts with respective openings of $389,885 (US $4,482,955) and $226,346 (US $2,602,559). Seeing their interest come to a close after decent runs, MONSTER-IN-LAW, THE ISLAND and KICKING & SCREAMING all fell relatively hard feeling the competition burn. The J.Lo comedy dipped 65%, but has rounded up a monster $8,933,801 (US $102,722,166) in its 8 week run, and is Lopez's 3rd highest grossing film in Australia, and second as a starring vehicle, trailing the $9.76m of Shall We Dance? and $9.54m of the animated hit Antz. Ewan and Scarlett's sci-fi run dropped 68% after 7 weeks, seeing a neat $6,174,352 (US $70,993,613) at the end of the tunnel, whilst Will Ferrell hasn't has a much luck with only a $1,819,598 (US $20,922,007) finish.


Here's the Top 20 films sitting at the Australian Box Office for the weekend Thursday the 15th to Sunday the 18th of September 2005.



Cousins. Outlaws. Thrillbilles. #1 Movie.

(1) (Debut) THE DUKES OF HAZZARD
(2) (1) CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY
(3) (Debut) WALLACE AND GROMIT: CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT
(4) (8) SKY HIGH
(5) (3) WEDDING CRASHERS
(6) (7) LITTLE FISH
(7) (2) STEALTH
(8) (4) RED EYE
(9) (11) THE ADVENTURES OF SHARKBOY AND LAVAGIRL IN 3D
(10) (14) THE PERFECT MAN
(11) (5) THE PERFECT CATCH
(12) (9) LOOK BOTH WAYS
(13) (13) SALAAM NAMASTE
(14) (15) WILD SAFARI 3D
(15) (10) THE SKELETON KEY
(16) (Debut) MURDERBALL
(17) (17) OYSTER FARMER
(18) (12) UNLEASHED
(19) (Re-Entry) A GOOD WOMAN
(20) (Re-Entry) SHARKS 3D

Expected winners WALLACE AND GROMIT were passed over for Stifler, the jackass, and a tiny ass pair of Daisy Dukes as THE DUKES OF HAZZARD defied the critics slaughtering and topped the charts with a particularly strong $3,096,004 (US $35,598,312), the 11th highest grossing opener for the month of September, and the 12th best for 2005. The aforementioned claymation duo who are out solving the CURSE OF THE WERE-RABBIT settled for #3 with $1,713,570, but with its preview screenings last week, and its opening day of Monday the 12th, it has collected $2,476,160 (US $28,471,254), which considering all its factors, and its high screen count, has to be a slight disappointment for those involved. Wedged in between was CHARLIE AND THE CHOCOLATE FACTORY which added a further $2,372,135 to its total, which now comes to a stellar $16,794,084 (US $193,100,863), marking it as the years 5th highest grossing film, the 101st of all-time, the 2nd highest for Depp, behind Pirates of the Caribbean ($25.42m), and the #1 film for director Burton, eclipsing the $13.75m of Batman. Kurt Russell managed to soar higher in his second week as SKY HIGH expanded over Australia and rose 88% to climb into the Top 5, bringing the Kelly Preston co-starrer to $1,373,476 (US $15,792,430). Still doing the rounds and showing little signs of stopping are the WEDDING CRASHERS, who kept their hold in the Top 5, a place they've maintained for 6 weeks now. Accumulating $15,550,736 (US $178,804,664) gives the Vince Vaughn comedy the honour of being the 6th highest grossing film of the year, the 120th of all time, and the 3rd highest grosser for both Vaughn and Wilson. Crashing in its second week, STEALTH lost 51% interest and couldn't even hold in the Top 5 as it slipped to #7 with a total of $1,658,074 (US $19,064,780). Also taking nose dives, but considerably bigger were 5 week players THE SKELETON KEY and UNLEASHED which dipped 76% and 80% respectively. The Kate Hudson thriller has done alright for itself though with a figure of $3,119,734 (US $35,871,163), whilst Jet Li hasn't fared as well with $2,640,080 (US $30,356,030).

THIS WEEK (September 22nd): Deuce part deux; and animation gets mystical.

• Deuce Bigalow: European Gigolo
• Howl's Moving Castle

IN THE WEEKS TO COME:

• Serenity
• Cinderella Man
• Transporter 2
• The 40 Year-Old Virgin
• Must Love Dogs
• In Her Shoes
• Nightwatch
• Into The Blue

FLASHBACK: This time last year


Garfield wins the cat-fight
(1) GARFIELD
(2) DODGEBALL: A TRUE UNDERDOG STORY
(3) CATWOMAN
(4) THE BOURNE SUPREMACY
(5) THE TERMINAL

Highest Debut - GARFIELD - $2,254,100
Highest Gross - THE BOURNE SUPREMACY - $12,783,777

Sorry for the delay on these reports, hopefully schmoes out there still appreciate these posts.