Posted on 12/11/2005 10:14:55 PM PST by Ma3lst0rm
THIS WEEKEND Just days ahead of a giant ape's mighty yell, a ferocious lion roared into North American theaters as Disney's big-budget epic The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe generated an explosive opening weekend at number one fueling what should become a gargantuan end-of-year box office surge. Meanwhile, adult audiences flocked to the political thriller Syriana which expanded nationwide while in limited release Brokeback Mountain and Memoirs of a Geisha debuted to eye-popping results kicking off what is sure to be another exciting awards season.
Delivering the third biggest opening of the year, Narnia attracted millions of fans grossing an estimated $67.1M from 3,616 theaters for a sizzling $18,546 average. Only Star Wars Episode III and Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire have opened stronger this year with Friday-to-Sunday bows of $108.4M and $102.3M, respectively. Based on the wildly popular book by author C.S. Lewis, the PG-rated adventure tells the fantasy tale of four British children who discover a world of mythical creatures and talking animals where they must help good battle evil...
(Excerpt) Read more at boxofficeguru.com ...
I'm not suprised.
I've heard they were already planning more movies in the series.
They knew they had something special they could run with. Disney made the right call on this. The market was there.
This will be a gold mine for them, but at the same time, its good quality movies for children.
Win-win for disney and children.
This one cost about $150M to make and market, but I see another one soon.
I admit I'm a little disappointed that Narnia didn't do even better, even closer to Harry Potter's numbers. But still a respectable, strong showing for an excellent family movie. I hope it has staying power and that word of mouth will cause its numbers to swell.
All new Star Wars movies = lame.
For thoese who disagree, pick up your light sabres because I'll go down swinging on this one.
Seriously, how did THAT movie open better than TLTWATW? After the last 2 bombs?
A film about gay cowboys eating pudding could be described in many different ways. Sadly, many of them would lead to FR banishment.
Agreed. Theme song would be a duet between Cher and Babs Streisand.
You shouldn't be disappointed. Think about it for a second. Harry Potter movies are coming out as the books themselves are being written. Narnia books are 50 years old. In 50 years, people will say, "Harry who?"
Never read the books. The movie was ok though. Tilda Swinton was a pretty good villain. I couldn't get into it as much as LOTR but it was about as good as Harry Potter I suppose.
Well, you have heard of chick flicks. This could be called a fag flick.
I think I will wait for KONG to arrive.
My daughter came to me years ago and ask for this set of books recommended to her by her third grade teacher. She still has them and loves them. C.S. Lewis was an excellent writer and most of all a devout Christian.
But Narnia has had very little in the way of a traditional ad campaign. It is mostly marketed through churches. I think it will have "legs." I'm stunned that "Syriana" has any sales at all.
I loved all the Star Wars, and I'd go see three more if Lucas would make them. Light saber that!
No, I think you're wrong. Harry Potter is now destined to be a permanent fixture of children's works, like the Hans Christian Anderson tales, the Baba Yaga stories, and, for the more sci-fi, Edgar Rice Burrows "Mars" series.
I think I'll skip a monkey movie, unless it's "Kong meets Coco, the Talking Gorilla." Then one could imagine a Brooksian scene where someone has Kong on Broadway singing "Putting on the Ritz."
If they don't go with the same order of the book series, I hope they do 'The Magician's Nephew' next. The ol' Professor has a pretty cool past!
In my opionion, the Harry Potter movies are some of the most over-rated films to come along in awhile.
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