The numbers are based on Sunday estimates.
1) Chicken Little – $32 million, $80.8 million in two weeks.
This certainly has to make Disney feel a little better about their position in their ongoing negotiations with Pixar for the right to stamp a pair of mouse ears on Pixar’s golden eggs. Translation: Disney’s still over the barrel, but now Pixar isn’t forcing them to keep that rubber ball in their mouth.
2) Zathura – $14 million, first week
Coming soon to the Chinese Theatre: get your photograph taken with a broke, smelly guy in a Zorgon costume.
3) Derailed – $12.8 million, first week
Given the fact that Weinstein Co. played three card monte with this movie in order to keep us from seeing it, the fact that it made eight figures must be considered a victory for all concerned.
4) Get Rich or Die Tryin’ – $12.5 million, first week (Wednesday opening)
Much ado was made about a man who was shot and killed at the concession stand of a Pittsburgh theater that was showing this movie, but all we have to say is, we were out of town when that shit happened.
5) Jarhead – $12.2 million, $47 million in two weeks
The amount of screen time Chris Cooper has in the movie is only slightly more time than he spends onscreen in the trailer.
Not Everyone in Hollywood is Hemorrhaging Money Dept.: Saw II – $9.4 million, $74.1 million in three weeks, which is 15 times more than the movie cost to make. The Legend of Zorro, meanwhile, has grossed $39.5 million in three weeks, which is slightly less than half its estimated budget of $80 million. Coming from Sony next fall: Bear Trap, starring Paul Walker.
