“Darkness Falls” Over ‘Roo
Monday January 27 5:15 PM ET
A scary “tooth fairy” took a bite out of the ‘roo.
The horror flick Darkness Falls opened with $12 million over the typically slow Super Bowl weekend, good enough to snag the top slot at the domestic box office.
Its arrival just overshadowed last weekend’s number one, the mob-vs.-marsupial caper Kangaroo Jack, a short jump behind in second place with $11.5 million in its pocket.
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More glamorous high-kickers scored big as the Golden Globe-winning Chicago jumped up two slots to third place with $8.2 million. Miramax expanded the murder-minded musical into an additional 59 sites following its big Globes victories, and the flick delivered, averaging an impressive $13,375 per screen at 616 locations, a gain of 8 percent over last weekend, according to final box-office figures released Monday.
In contrast, Sony’s PG-13 Darkness Falls, a things-that-go-bump-in-the-dark tale about a masked hag, lynched long ago, who wreaks havoc on kids who stick teeth under their pillows, only averaged $4,239 at 2,837 screens. But since it only cost about $11 million to produce, it’s expected to be profitable.
Still, its per-screen average was little better than the $4,055 at 2,848 sites earned by Kangaroo Jack, another unlikely tale. Producer Jerry Bruckheimer’s romp–about a smart critter on the hop from inept Brooklyn gangsters from whom it’s nicked a sweatshirt, dark glasses and a wad of cash–added 30 screens and only fell off 30 percent from its opening weekend. It has now earned $35.1 million.
In contrast, National Security, last weekend’s second-place finisher, dropped 49 percent while remaining in 2,729 sites. The Martin Lawrence ( news)-Steve Zahn ( news) buddy comedy was down to fourth place with just $7.3 million. It only averaged $2,678 and so far has only grossed $26 million.
Moving on up was Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, the tall tale about Gong Show creator and self-professed spy Chuck Barris. The Miramax release, George Clooney ( news)’s feature film directing debut from a script by Adapatation writer Charlie Kaufman, broadened from a very limited debut four weeks ago to 1,764 screens. In turn, Confessions climbed from 43rd place to eighth, earning $5.8 million from a $3,297 per-screen average.
With about 130 million TV viewers reportedly planning to tune in to Sunday’s Super Bowl–some because they actually think the game may be exciting–and the only new wide release a minor league horror flick, it’s not surprising that the movie theaters weren’t crowded over the three-day weekend. The top 12 films grossed just $80 million, down 20 percent from last weekend and off 2 percent from last year’s Super Bowl weekend.
Here are the weekend top 10, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations:
1. Darkness Falls, $12.5 million
2. Kangaroo Jack, $11.9 million
3. Chicago, $8.4 million
4. National Security, $7.3 million
5. The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, $6.6 million
6. Catch Me If You Can, $6.5 million
7. Just Married, $6.48 million
8. Confessions of a Dangerous Mind, $5.8 million
9. About Schmidt, $5.4 million
10. The Hours, $3.9 million