Long Weekend Box Office Gets 'Hoodwinked'
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The revisionist fairy tale "Hoodwinked" and the inspirational sports flick "Glory Road" topped a family oriented box office for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, according to estimates Monday.
"Hoodwinked," an animated update of the Little Red Riding Hood story, debuted with $16.6 million in ticket sales over the four-day weekend while "Glory Road" was a breath behind with $16.5 million.
A new Queen Latifah movie, "Last Holiday," opened in third place with $15.7 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The only other new movie to make the top 10 list was the romance "Tristan & Isolde," which opened in eighth place with a gross of $7.9 million.
"Brokeback Mountain," director Ang Lee's story of two rugged Western family men concealing their homosexual affair, had the highest per-location average of any movie in the top 10, at $10,330 per location. It was ranked No. 9 in ticket sales over the long weekend.
In spite of — or perhaps because of — the controversy over its gay theme, "Brokeback Mountain" has done well in every market where it has played.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}"This film has everything going for it: the critical acclaim, the word of mouth and, of course, the seven Golden Globe nominations never hurt," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's become the must-see movie of the season."
The Golden Globes were to be handed out Monday night.
"Hoodwinked" received mixed critical reviews but its opening day was a financial triumph for a movie that was made for a relatively paltry $15 to $20 million. Weinstein Co. hoped to expand its showings this week to as many as 3,000 screens.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}The movie was held back to January so it wouldn't have to face the big Christmas-season guns such as "King Kong" or "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," which was fourth for the weekend and has now grossed more than $260 million.
"We're getting mainly families with young children," said Weinstein's Mike Rudnitsky, senior executive vice president for domestic distribution. "We know our target audience. We picked a holiday weekend because people are always looking to take their family out and looking for a family film."
It was the second independently produced movie to make No. 1 in two weeks, after the horror film "Hostel," from Lions Gate.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Another PG-rated film, "Glory Road," was in second place and made some $3 million dollars more in its opening than expected. The movie tells the story of how underdog Texas Western, fronted by an all-black starting lineup, beat the all-white powerhouse University of Kentucky to win the NCAA title in 1966.
Critics praised its inspirational qualities but panned its cliches.
Overall, the top 12 films grossed an estimated $125.4 million, down about 12 percent from last year's $142.7 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Monday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Tuesday.
1. "Hoodwinked," Weinstein Co., $16.6 million.
2. "Glory Road," Disney, $16.5 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}3. "Last Holiday," Paramount, $15.7 million.
4. "The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe," Disney, $12.2 million.
5. "Hostel," Lions Gate, $11.7 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}6. "Fun With Dick and Jane," Sony, $10.3 million.
7. "King Kong," Universal, $9.2 million.
8. "Tristan & Isolde," 20th Century Fox, $7.9 million.
{{#rendered}} {{/rendered}}9. "Brokeback Mountain," Focus, $7.1 million.
10. "Cheaper by the Dozen 2," 20th Century Fox, $6.8 million.