Box Office Update for 7/14-7/16: Pirates Continues its Reign

In a scant 10 days, Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest became the biggest hit of the year, and will likely lay claim to the box office championship of the year. En route to it's $62.3 million take for the weekend it claimed a few more records for its chest. It is now the fastest to $200 million (8 days), and also has the highest 8, 9, and 10 day totals. It also is the third highest second weekend, behind Shrek 2 and Spider-Man.

It has been an amazing thing to see, this seemingly unstoppable behemoth. I never would have thought that, three years ago, a movie based on a roller coaster attraction would spawn such a wonderful movie. A movie so good that its lead actor was nominated for an Oscar. Even less did I think that it would generate a sequel of such gigantic proportions. I have seen the film twice, and it was even better the second time, although I don't think that it tops the original. It will be interesting to see how the third film fares come next year.

Coming in right behind Pirates, well not right behind but in 2nd and 3rd, are a pair of comedies that came in very close together, and both above expectations. Those films are Little Man and You, Me, and Dupree. Little Man is the latest from the Wayans brothers, a film that I have little interest in seeing. Dupree features one half of last year's Wedding Crashers duo, Owen Wilson, in a movie that is rather meandering and unfocused.

Slipping down the charts are the studio-disappointing returns of Superman Returns. This is a film that has fans strongly divided to both ends of the spectrum. I fall on the side of liking it. The next few weeks will see how far this can lurch along.

Pulling up the rear of the list is newcomer A Scanner Darkly, which expanded its theater count in its second week. I didn't think this one would crack the top ten, now I only hope to get a chance to see it.

Two films dropped from the list this week: The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift (11) and The Break-Up (14).

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	1	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$62,345,264	$258,364,766	2
2	N	Little Man	$21,613,176	$21,613,176	1
3	N	You, Me, and Dupree	$21,525,560	$21,525,560	1
4	2	Superman Returns	$12,288,317	$105,842,811	3
5	3	The Devil Wears Prada	$10,386,386	$83,490,860	3
6	5	Cars	$7,840,985	$220,001,446	6
7	4	Click	$7,261,361	$119,963,211	4
8	7	The Lake House	$1,665,485	$48,996,220	5
9	6	Nacho Libre	$1,615,331	$77,233,137	5
10	19	A Scanner Darkly	$1,266,427	$1,868,905	2

Box Office Predictions Recap
Well, it wasn't a good week for my predictions, on any front. I did get the number one movie, but it didn't have any real competition. I underestimated Little Man, and overestimated Superman Returns. Next week should be interesting with 4 releases that coulkd crack into the top ten.

Actual	Prediction	Title	Wknd Gross	Prediction
1	1	Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest	$62,345,264	$50 million
3	2	You, Me, and Dupree	$21,525,560	$24 million
4	3	Superman Returns	$12,288,317	$20 million
2	4	Little Man	$21,613,176	$16 million
5	5	The Devil Wears Prada	$10,386,386	$12 million
7	6	Click	$7,261,361	$7 million
6	7	Cars	$7,840,985	$6 million
9	8	Nacho Libre	$1,615,331	$5 million
8	9	The Lake House	$1,665,485	$3.5 million
11	10	The Fast and the Furious: Tokyo Drift	$1,168,360	$2.5 million

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