August 11 - 13, 2006
THTRS = Number of Screens
* Denotes new release.
Click on title to read CB Review
| 1. | Talladega Nights:The Ballad of Ricky Bobby |
| $23,000,000 - Total: $91,217,000 | |
| LW: 1 WR: 2 THTRS: 3807 |
| 2. | Step Up * |
| $21,065,000 - Total: $21,065,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2467 |
| 3. | World Trade Center * |
| $19,016,000 - Total: $26,818,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2957 |
| 4. | Barnyard: The OriginalParty Animals |
| $10,069,000 - Total: $34,085,000 | |
| LW: 2 WR: 2 THTRS: 3311 |
| 5. | Pulse * |
| $8,456,000 - Total: $8,456,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2323 |
| 6. | Pirates of the Caribbean:Dead Man's Chest |
| $7,207,000 - Total: $392,400,000 | |
| LW: 3 WR: 6 THTRS: 2941 |
| 7. | The Descent |
| $4,600,000 - Total: $17,527,000 | |
| LW: 5 WR: 2 THTRS: 2095 |
| 8. | Zoom * |
| $4,600,000 - Total: $4,600,000 | |
| LW: N WR: 1 THTRS: 2501 |
| 9. | Miami Vice |
| $4,547,000 - Total: $55,112,000 | |
| LW: 4 WR: 3 THTRS: 2659 |
| 10. | Monster House |
| $3,300,000 - Total: $63,678,000 | |
| LW: 7 WR: 4 THTRS: 2434 |
Talladega Nights managed to hold onto the number one spot again this week, proving again that Americans prefer NASCAR and Will Ferrell to almost anything. The movie pulled in a handsome $23 million and had everything else eating its dust, or rubber, or whatever they say in that sort of racing.
In these days of teen idol hotness and popularity of over-the-top reality competition shows like "So You Think You Can Dance", what would you expect a movie producer to do? Grab the writer of Save The Last Dance, team him up with someone who scribes the drivel for "The O.C.", hire a choreographer as your director and cast a Can't act/can't miss teen heart throb as your lead. It's unavoidable. The only thing is, who would have guessed that sort of pandering would produce the number two movie for the weekend? Step Up took in $21 million, soundly beating out Oliver Stone's 9/11 drama World Trade Center, which came in with $19 million.
Techno-thriller Pulse didn't quite have the scares needed to best Barnyard. It came in at fifth place behind the animated farm farce with an unimpressive $8.5 million. Tim Allen's superhero family adventure Zoom did anything but. Opening at 7th place it's neck and neck with "Chicks in a Cave" (better known as The Descent).
And now, the weekend we've all been waiting for: opening weekend for Samuel L. Jackson's B-movie scare-a-thon, Snakes On A Plane. It opens next weekend with mixed anticipation and rolling eyes. Is this going to be the dumbest concept to hit screens this year? No, that award has to go either to Little Man or Scary Movie 4. But it's a good contender for the dumbest movie of the year, but possibly in a good way. Sometimes you just need a movie where something absurd happens, like a whole cargo shipment full of poisonous snakes being released on a commercial flight. Throw in a foul-mouthed, quick drawing Sammy J, and do you end up with the #1 movie for the week?
That's what they're betting on, and they're so certain that they've refused to screen it. Usually that's a sign that a movie totally sucks, and execs are trying to sneak it in before people have a chance to realize how bad it is. This time around, it's sheer arrogance. They expect people to take it for what it is. Will it make number one? Probably.
The only new release competition next week is Universal's comedy Accepted and Duff sister silliness Material Girls and with Talladega Nights heading into it's third week there's not much to stand in the way . Expect Accepted and Snakes on a Plane to take the top two spots with Snakes flying high.
