Necro

Borat Has "Very Nice!" Opening Day
Source: ShowBIZ Data
November 4, 2006


According to ShowBIZ Data, Sacha Baron Cohen's comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan has grossed an estimated $8.9 million in its opening day.

That may not seem like a lot, but it's quite impressive considering 20th Century Fox's controversial decision to limit the opening to just 837 theatres, where it averaged over $10.5 thousand per site. It also surpassed the two new family comedies, Tim Allen's The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause and DreamWorks' Flushed Away, to take the top spot on Friday, even though both of those movies were playing in well over 2,000 more theatres than "Borat."

Despite Fox's reasons for the reduced opening, the highly-praised comedy which has received almost unanimous critical acclaim (96% fresh on Rotten Tomatoes!) looks likely to surpass Michael Moore's Fahrenheit 9/11 as the highest opening movie in less than 1,000 theatres. Moore's controversial doc made $8.5 million its opening day in 868 theatres to win its weekend with $23.9 million, but realistically, "Borat" may be more frontloaded to opening day due to the high anticipation.

With $5.3 and $4.8 million respectively, The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause and Flushed Away are likely to make up the difference over the weekend where family films do most of their business, but Cohen's comedy should still win the weekend regardless. On top of that, "Borat" is scheduled to expand into over 2,200 theatres next weekend, giving it a strong chance at 2 weeks at the top.

Check back on Sunday for more details on the weekend box office.

Necro

Borat: Bigger Than Santa Clause!
Source: Box Office Mojo, Edward Douglas
November 5, 2006


The ComingSoon.net Box Office Report has been updated with studio estimates for the weekend. Be sure to check back on Monday for the final figures based on actual box office.

This weekend, the guy bringing presents wasn't wearing a red suit, he was wearing a gray one, as Sacha Baron Cohen's acclaimed comedy Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan took on two new family films for a surprising victory as the king of the box office with an estimated opening weekend take of $26.4 million!

That amount wouldn't be nearly as impressive, if not for the fact that the comedy opened in almost a third as many theatres as the other two new wide releases, after a controversial decision by distributor 20th Century Fox to cut back its opening weekend release to 837 theatres. As of Friday, it looked like "Borat" would surpass Michael Moore's 2004 documentary Fahrenheit 9/11 as the highest per theatre average for a film opening wide in less than 1,000 theatres. Actually, "Borat's" stunning per-theatre average of $31,511 (estimated) is the third highest per theatre average for a wide release EVER, just behind the summer hit Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man's Chest and the original Spider-Man. It averaged more per theatre than Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith just to give some idea how huge this movie is. 20th Century Fox plans on expanding the movie into over 2,200 theatres next weekend, although after such a huge opening, one can expect that number will increase by Friday.

Settling for second place, the Disney threequel The Santa Clause 3: The Escape Clause, once again starring Tim Allen, grossed an estimated $20 million in 3,458 theatres, $9 million less than The Santa Clause 2 earned in the same weekend four years ago.

Part of that reduced opening might be blamed on its competition for the family market, DreamWorks' Flushed Away, the first computer animated comedy from England's Aardman Studios, featuring the voices of Hugh Jackman and Kate Winslet. Continuing this year's declining trend for the CG animated genre, it only grossed $19 million despite its ultra-wide release into over 3,700 theaters. That may be a disappointing opening for a DreamWorks animated film, but it's slightly higher than the opening for Chicken Run in 2000 and quite a bit higher than the opening of Aardman's 2005 offering Wallace & Gromit: The Curse of the Were-Rabbit.

As far as the returning movies, last week's Lionsgate #1, Saw III, dropped nearly 54% to make $15.5 million in its sophomore slot, bringing its total gross to $60 milion, while dropping to fourth place.

Both Martin Scorsese's crime drama The Departed and Christopher Nolan's period mystery The Prestige had neglible drops of less than 20%, though The Departed ended up just slightly ahead for fifth place with $8 million to The Prestige's $7.8 million. This weekend, Scorsese's critical and commercial success crossed the $100 million mark on its way to passing The Aviator as his highest grossing film ever; The Prestige has accumulated $39 million to date.

Clint Eastwood's WWII drama Flags of Our Fathers continued to add theatres, as it dropped three more places to #7 with $4.5 million. So far, the $90 million movie has only taken in $26.6 million domestically.

At #8, Universal's political comedy Man of the Year, starring Robin Williams, brought in $3.8 million to take its own total to $34 million.

With two new family films, Sony's computer-animated comedy Open Season took its biggest hit, dropping 47%, but adding another $3.1 million to its total gross of $81.4 million.

Miramax's The Queen, starring Helen Mirren, entered the Top 10 for the first time, earning $3 million in 387 theatres. The Oscar-ready movie has grossed $10 million to date.

Sofia Coppola's Marie Antoinette, starring Kirsten Dunst, rounded out the Top 12 with $2.3 million.

After its platform debut last weekend, Alejandro Gonzalez Iñarittu's global drama Babel, starring Brad Pitt and Cate Blanchett, added 28 theatres, grossing $918 thousand in its second weekend. On Friday, it expands nationwide into over 1,000 theatres.

Opening in five theatres in New York and L.A., Pedro Almodóvar's Volver, which reunited the Spanish director with Penélope Cruz and Carmen Maura, grossed $202 thousand, an average of $40 thousand per site. It's the filmmaker's biggest first weekend, although it also opened in twice as many theatres as his last two films.

Dr. Giganto

oh my god, i was just watching deleted scenes from the movie...fucking hysterical.

He gets pulled over the Dalla spolice, and he says "If you are going to search inside of me, I must warn you, I eat 15 Cinnabuns last night. My anoos is open like mouth of tired dog. If you attack, I may make release"

hahahahahahahahahahahahahahahaha

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

lol yea alot of the deleted scenes were better than the shit int he movie. the one when he went ot the dog kennel was good too

Jack's Raging Fury

so has anybody seen this movie? I cant make up my mind if I want to or not

Randy Orton

WC's Resident Alchoholic

Yea, I have seen it. It's pretty good. I'd watch some of his other stuff it is just like that and see if you like it..