Weekend Box Office Results for January 4–6, 2008

Weekend Box Office Results for January 4–6, 2008

It was an excellent week - 17% above the first weekend of last year. The top 12 took in more than $120 million. 2007 did not reach that amount until week seven. 2006 had to wait until week thirteen, and 2005 didn't make it until week nineteen.

What made it work? To start with, there was the astounding, almost inexplicable success of One Missed Call, which took in more on Friday than it was supposed to take in all weekend - and that despite a perfect ZERO percent positive reviews. It was the only new film, so that explains part of its success, but the analysts knew that and still thought it would bomb. Not only did it fail to bomb, but it had the highest average gross per theater of any film in 2000 or more theaters! Its success certainly demonstrates the effectiveness of proper counter-programming. Whichever corporate bigwig decided to release this film this week deserves a hefty bonus, because it was the perfect timing.

The second phenomenon is Juno, which continues to be the biggest sleeper hit since Greek Wedding. It finished third overall and just missed second by a hair. Films normally start high then drop, but this film started in 17th place, then went to 11-10-9-5-5-3. Quality wins out for a change. This one got 94% positive reviews, is rated 8.3 at IMDb, and is nominated for some important Golden Globes, like Best Screenplay and Best Picture - Musical or Comedy.

Phenomenon number three is P.S. I Love You, which young women have taken to more than any other film since The Notebook. In fact, the film is battling Dirty Dancing for the title of All-Time Chick-Flick. We measure that championship by the difference between the IMDb scores awarded by females and males. Among all films with a substantial number of votes, Dirty Dancing is the champ with a differential of 2.0. We use 1.0 as the cutoff point which must be met before we officially consider a film to be a chick-flick. Beaches, for example, scores 1.3 on that scale, while Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood are at 1.1. When you realize how much estrogen is in those three films, you'll stand back and look at Dirty Dancing's 2.0 in awe. Well, guess what? P.S. I Love You is also at 2.0, and could be the first film ever to mount a serious challenge to Dirty Dancing.

Other films with good reviews, like Sweeney Todd, The Water Horse, and Charlie Wilson's war, also continue to perform above their expectation levels.