Round 4 for 'Narnia' vs. 'Kong'
Boxoffice preview
Jan 6, 2006
After the presents are unwrapped, the celebrating is done and the holiday festivities die down, the Lion and Kong look likely to hold their ground in the top two spots at the boxoffice this post-New Year's weekend, fending off four films that arrive in or expand to wide release.
Buena Vista Pictures' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" ascended to the throne during the four-day New Year's holiday frame -- its fourth weekend in release -- pushing Universal Pictures' mighty "King Kong" into the second spot. The two films have dominated the boxoffice for the past four weekends, and that trend looks likely to continue this session. At this point, none of the tracking on the weekend's new arrivals looks strong enough to usurp those positions.
"Narnia," helmed by Andrew Adamson, grossed $33.7 million last weekend and had a cume of $230.1 million through Wednesday. The Peter Jackson-directed "Kong" placed second with $31.8 million in its third weekend, moving its cume to $178.4 million.
The most high-profile film moving into wide release this weekend is Universal's "Munich," which expands to 1,489 theaters, nearly triple last weekend's count. The dramatic thriller from director Steven Spielberg, about the aftermath of the killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Olympics, has taken in $17.1 million in 13 days from 532 theaters. Eric Bana, Daniel Craig and Geoffrey Rush star in "Munich," which was co-produced by DreamWorks and scripted by Tony Kushner.
20th Century Fox's "Grandma's Boy," an R-rated comedy produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Prods., opens today in 2,013 theaters. Aimed at teens and twentysomethings, "Boy" is about a man in his 30s who moves in with his grandmother and her two senior roommates.
Nick Goosen directed the comedy, originally a spec script from Allen Covert that was rewritten by Nick Swardson and Barry Wernick. Covert and Swardson also star, along with Doris Roberts as Covert's grandmother and Shirley Jones and Shirley Knight as her friends.
Horror fans have two new films to choose from this weekend, promising scares, chills, thrills and gore.
Lionsgate's "Hostel," starring Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson and written and directed by Eli Roth, revolves around two Americans backpacking through Europe who are lured to an out-of-the-way hostel in Slovakia promising a dream respite that turns into a nightmare. The R-rated "Hostel," filmed in the Czech Republic and co-produced with Screen Gems, arrives this weekend in 2,195 locations.
Ben Kingsley stars in Romar's "BloodRayne," a horror film reportedly made for $25 million based on the popular video game. Uwe Boll helmed the R-rated "BloodRayne," a fantasy actioner set in Eastern Europe in the 1700s, about an evil ruler looking to increase his power and the small group of men and women of the Brimstone Society who band together to battle him. "BloodRayne" will be in about 1,600 theaters this weekend.
Both "Hostel" and "BloodRayne" will be appealing to an older teen audience as well as the 24-35 age range.
ThinkFilm's "Fateless" will open in one theater in New York. The unrated drama, directed by veteran cinematographer Lajos Koltai, is set during World War II and centers on the deportation of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps.
Indican Pictures' "Moonlight" opens in Los Angeles and New York. The unrated thriller is a Dutch film that originally was released in 2002 and won several festival awards. Paula van der Oest helmed "Moonlight," which features a cast that includes Laurien Van den Broeck and Hunter Bussemaker.
Buena Vista's "Casanova" expands Friday to about 900 theaters, and the Weinstein Co.'s "Matador" goes from four locations to 28.
Buena Vista Pictures' "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch & the Wardrobe" ascended to the throne during the four-day New Year's holiday frame -- its fourth weekend in release -- pushing Universal Pictures' mighty "King Kong" into the second spot. The two films have dominated the boxoffice for the past four weekends, and that trend looks likely to continue this session. At this point, none of the tracking on the weekend's new arrivals looks strong enough to usurp those positions.
"Narnia," helmed by Andrew Adamson, grossed $33.7 million last weekend and had a cume of $230.1 million through Wednesday. The Peter Jackson-directed "Kong" placed second with $31.8 million in its third weekend, moving its cume to $178.4 million.
The most high-profile film moving into wide release this weekend is Universal's "Munich," which expands to 1,489 theaters, nearly triple last weekend's count. The dramatic thriller from director Steven Spielberg, about the aftermath of the killing of 11 Israeli athletes by Palestinian terrorists during the 1972 Olympics, has taken in $17.1 million in 13 days from 532 theaters. Eric Bana, Daniel Craig and Geoffrey Rush star in "Munich," which was co-produced by DreamWorks and scripted by Tony Kushner.
20th Century Fox's "Grandma's Boy," an R-rated comedy produced by Adam Sandler's Happy Madison Prods., opens today in 2,013 theaters. Aimed at teens and twentysomethings, "Boy" is about a man in his 30s who moves in with his grandmother and her two senior roommates.
Nick Goosen directed the comedy, originally a spec script from Allen Covert that was rewritten by Nick Swardson and Barry Wernick. Covert and Swardson also star, along with Doris Roberts as Covert's grandmother and Shirley Jones and Shirley Knight as her friends.
Horror fans have two new films to choose from this weekend, promising scares, chills, thrills and gore.
Lionsgate's "Hostel," starring Jay Hernandez and Derek Richardson and written and directed by Eli Roth, revolves around two Americans backpacking through Europe who are lured to an out-of-the-way hostel in Slovakia promising a dream respite that turns into a nightmare. The R-rated "Hostel," filmed in the Czech Republic and co-produced with Screen Gems, arrives this weekend in 2,195 locations.
Ben Kingsley stars in Romar's "BloodRayne," a horror film reportedly made for $25 million based on the popular video game. Uwe Boll helmed the R-rated "BloodRayne," a fantasy actioner set in Eastern Europe in the 1700s, about an evil ruler looking to increase his power and the small group of men and women of the Brimstone Society who band together to battle him. "BloodRayne" will be in about 1,600 theaters this weekend.
Both "Hostel" and "BloodRayne" will be appealing to an older teen audience as well as the 24-35 age range.
ThinkFilm's "Fateless" will open in one theater in New York. The unrated drama, directed by veteran cinematographer Lajos Koltai, is set during World War II and centers on the deportation of Hungarian Jews to concentration camps.
Indican Pictures' "Moonlight" opens in Los Angeles and New York. The unrated thriller is a Dutch film that originally was released in 2002 and won several festival awards. Paula van der Oest helmed "Moonlight," which features a cast that includes Laurien Van den Broeck and Hunter Bussemaker.
Buena Vista's "Casanova" expands Friday to about 900 theaters, and the Weinstein Co.'s "Matador" goes from four locations to 28.
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