It may be only the first week of November, but Disney’s A Christmas Carol got the holiday season started by spiriting $31 million at the box office, according to early estimates by Hollywood.com Box Office. The $175 million animated movie, which utilized performance-capture technology to allow Jim Carrey to play multiple roles from Charles Dickens’ beloved story, represented the best opening in director Robert Zemeckis’ career. And even though Carol performed a bit below expectations, the family film should hold up well in the coming weeks, especially since it’ll be playing on nearly 200 pricey IMAX screens until Avatar opens on Dec. 18.
The concert documentary Michael Jackson’s This Is It dropped only 40 percent in its second weekend, sliding into second place with $14 million. Not far behind was the new George Clooney comedy The Men Who Stare at Goats. Unlike the Chicago Cubs, the movie managed to escape the Curse of the Billy Goat for a weekend total of $13.3 million. The Milla Jovovich alien-abduction film The Fourth Kind debuted in, appropriately enough, fourth place with $12.5 million, while the box-office phenomenon of the season, Paranormal Activity, recorded $8.6 million—good enough for fifth place. Activity, which reportedly cost only $11,000 to produce, has now grossed $97.4 million domestically. Such success is not in store for the Cameron Diaz horror flick The Box, which debuted in sixth place with $7.9 million and managed to garner a rare “F” grade from CinemaScore moviegoers.
The most newsworthy box-office story of the weekend was the record-breaking opening for Precious, the Oprah-endorsed and Sundance-winning drama starring Mo’Nique, Mariah Carey, and newcomer Gabourey Sidibe. On only 18 screens, Precious grossed $1.8 million for a per-screen average of $100,000—the largest per-screen average ever for a movie opening in more than 10 theaters. With many Oscar prognosticators—including EW’s Dave Karger—calling the film one of the front-runners of the awards season, Precious has an undoubtedly bright future in store as it gradually expands into additional markets throughout November.
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YaY for MJ and Precious!
Wow @ this is it, still doing so well. Awesome numbers for the King of Pop.
I wish he was here to see this he wanted to have movie success so much. <3
Yeah, that poor man. Having to make due his whole life with being an international superstar only in music. (joke)
what a banal comment, yeah too bad he missed his funeral too, he would have loved it!
If only he could have seen all the little boys attending the movie, that would have really perked him up.
You know you not right!
This may be a newbie question, but how can limited release movies like Precious make such a high per-screen average? $100K per theatre? Assuming the theatres hold 1000 people max, it works out to about $100 per ticket – but I have never heard of tickets costing that. Can anybody shed any light on this?
That’s $100,000 per theater over 3 days, and with multiple showtimes at each theater.
I saw it and paid the regular price – but the theater was PACKED and from what I heard it was sold out all over town (I live in LA)
Obviously, there are multiple showings on each “screen” throughout the period being measured.
I am so tired of this animated stuff Robert Zemeckis is making. Can he please go make another Forest Gump…that is like the best movie ever made period!
“Watch online music videos and all of your 80s music video on defSpot com’
Forrest Gump was one of the worst movies ever to receive the Best Picture Oscar. Gawd, it was ridiculously simple-minded.
Amen to that Lori! Zemeckis is a hack….he should give his Oscar back since he just backslided and became lazy after that win…. just like other artists who have retrogressed after receving their Oscars…. I’m talking to all of you – Gwyneth, Halle, Nicolas, Cuba and James Cameron!!
Forrest Gump is a masterpiece and deserved the Best Picture Oscar. Few other films are imbued with such magic and hope. Plus, Tom Hanks gave a brilliant performance. Can you imagine any other actor who would’ve played Forrest so well?
Lori, that is a typical and prententious response from an annoying film snob.
I still like movies that entertain me. How can a movie like PRECIOUS entertain. I can see stuff like this on reality nTV. And how can Oprah and Tyler be exec producers when they had nothing to do with the film. More hype to get Oscar attention.
Part of successfully producing a film – especially an indie – is getting into festivals, securing distribution, getting advertising funds, etc – none of which is guaranteed. So while Oprah and Tyler Perry may not have helped get the movie physically made, their connections, know-how, and, yes, their names have helped the movie reach the audience it is now reaching. Or, in other words, they HAVE helped make the movie into what it is now becoming. And when you say “How can a movie like PRECIOUS entertain. I can see stuff like this on reality nTV [sic],” do you mean to call into question the essential worth of drama? That’s sort of what that sounds like.
The only thing that I would add to your excellent response is that stories and drama have always functioned as more than entertainment. Enlightenment and insight into the human condition are what make a story resonate.
Precious is a deeply moving film, though maybe not “enetertaining” it is infinitely more worthwhile than most of the “entertaining” crap that gets released.
So, all movies have to be depressing and have an overweight person in the lead?
Tyley Perry exec producing Precious is like Casey Kasem exec producing Paramormal Activity.
while im sure precious is a moving and compelling flim, the fact that it has oprah’s name all over it makes me never want to see it. ever.
And that is your asinine choice to make. Go rot in hell.
just cos you dont agree doesn’t mean you have to resort to personal insults you rude ignorent person
oh mr famu..dont take your anger issues out on me! why should i rot in hell cause i don’t want to support oprah? thats just silly. actually, i’m sure there is an oprah endorsed self help book that you can read to help you with your anger.
That is a silly statement. I would never punish the hardwork and talents of everyone involved in a movie because of a single person.
So someone deciding not to go see a movie is now “punishing” the hard work and talents of everyone involved?
I’m sure there are plenty of people who want to punish Sacha Baron Cohen.
I agree 100% with you. She sits on her fat a$$ & makes money on a depressing movie!
i wanted to see “precious” before i knew oprah had anything to do with it. i know most are seeing it because of her or tyler, but, to me, a good movie is a good movie no matter who supports it.
Or most people read the book Push by Saaphire and want to see its screen adaption. You too can rot in hell.
I know it pains some of you people and self hating blacks to see a black film made by a black director starring black actors do so well.
GET OVER IT!
Mr FAMU I don’t think anyone is suggesting race has anything to do with their feelings towards the film. I am black and I personally do not enjoy movies associated with Tyler Perry. However, I will be seeing Push. Since you’re throwing the race card I’m going to throw out the IGNORANT card at you!
Up yours Famu. The only jackass being racist on this board is you.
Anyways, Yay! for Precious. An outstanding movie that is getting well-deserved.
I;m glad the 4th Kind did well.
God, would talk about MJ just stop? The man is dead…just like his career for the past thirteen years. Just shut up about the child molester for god’s sake! Stop making him a martyr…when he was anything but!
¿Do you believe in justice? Justice say NOT GUILTY. You shut up.
I actually liked the Box and it is too bad it is not getting a better reception from others. Liked it better than the 4th Kind, which I also saw this weekend.
Amen to that Elaine1442. The Box was pretty good, very creepy-very intriguing. too bad people are not going to give it a try, hopefully it will find its audience on dvd.
wow it got a F rating that is pretty Harsh!
wow its gonna need a lot of support to get back that $175 mil. budget
Saw Precious this weekend. The audience was pretty mainstream and while it was “gritty”, the were alot more light moments than I expected.
agree with you jay, but while you say light, my friends and i say ‘comedic.’ tho the movie is good, definitely some heartening moments, it is because of these weird comedic moments and how they were inserted i found the movie overrated overall. also sadly because of the pr and how people react to ‘new faces’ Gabourey ‘Gabby’ Sidibe will probably receive an oscar nomination and maybe a supporting oscar (when she’s really the star and should get nominated for best actress) when the only oscar worthy performance for me came from monique. not only does she make you hate her, she gains your empathy at the end and almost makes you want precious to give her a chance, despite …