Weekend Box Office: A "King's" ransom indeed.

[The Clown Prince]

The phenom that is the Lord of the Rings continues to dominate in a big, big way. Coming in at number one for the second weekend in a row and blowing all competition away, The Return of the King brought in $51.2 million bringing it's 12 day total to an unbelievable $223.6 millon. Taking 11 days to reach $200 million, that ties it with The Matrix Reloaded. Spider-Man still remains champ in that department. The Christmas holiday season has been good for New Line and ROTK. The New Years holiday weekend should be good as well. At this rate, Return of the King should have no problem catching The Fellowship of the Ring's finishing gross of $314.7 million and The Two Towers finishing gross of $341.7 million.

Debuting in at number two with mixed reviews was Steve Martin's new comedy Cheaper by the Dozen with $28.2 million and a total of $36.4 million since opening Christmas Day.

Cold Mountain with good reviews debuted in third place with $14.5 million and a $19 million total since opening on Christmas.

Coming in fourth place is Something's Gotta Give with $14.2 million and a $56.3 million total.

Opening in fifth place is a movie I thought myself would do a lot worse. Paycheck with good ol' Ben Affleck opened with $13.9 million and a $19.2 million total. Maybe Gigli wasn't so bad for Affleck after all.

And the film I thought would have done a lot better didn't. Peter Pan opened in seventh place with $11.4 million and a $15.1 million total. Despite getting good reviews, I guess audiences really didn't want to see another Peter Pan adaption. It was a good movie that will probably be under appreciated and under rated.

With the New Years holiday coming this week, what new movies are opening up? Well none actually. Which means that everything in the top 12 this weekend should get the chance to hang around and make a little more money. Return of the King should have no problem in staying in first place. There might be some place swapping with what's out now, but nothing too critical I'm sure.

Here are your numbers...


1) The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King- $51,225,000 ($223,690,000)
2) Cheaper by the Dozen- $28,225,000 ($36,400,000) NEW!!!
3) Cold Mountain- $14,500,000 ($19,000,000) NEW!!!
4) Something's Gotta Give- $14,200,000 ($56,395,000)
5) Paycheck- $13,900,000 ($19,200,000) NEW!!!
6) Mona Lisa Smile- $11,500,000 ($31,486,000)
7) Peter Pan- $11,400,000 ($15,100,000) NEW!!!
8) The Last Samurai- $8,370,000 ($74,367,000)
9) Bad Santa- $4,522,000 ($50,944,085)
10) Elf- $4,275,000 ($164,863,000)
11) Stuck on You- $3,475,000 ($24,267,522)
12) Love Don't Cost a Thing- $3,050,000 ($16,534,000)

The Clown Prince

[DianaGohan]

More good news for Return of the King (I've seen it. It kicks much ass). Odd on how none of the new movies really premiered on the usual Friday date. Well then again, it is the Christmas week.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

Holy crap look at that total for ROTK. That number is out of this world. 200 mil in two weeks.

[Tobias]

I'd hoped Peter Pan would at least crack the top 5. Looks like the bad reviews killed it. It really is a good movie, but I think the adults avoided taking their kids because of the so called 'sexual context', which there was very little of, unless you were re-he-he-heally looking for it.

[Corrado]

"Return of The King" ruled again. I'll probably see it next weekend.

All 4 movies opened better or at par to what they were supposed to open.

Sadly, "Cheaper by The Dozen" was a hit. Sad because that was the third movie released this year, that was a hit for Hilary Duff.

"Cold Mountain" should be in top 5 for a month or two, since it's award season.

And "Paycheck" did open better than expected.

[Blight]

Wow, $223 mil for ROTK so far! That's great, I haven't seen the movie yet, but from the numerous positive reviews I've read, It's getting everything it deserves. I really wanted to see the movie on opening day, but I foolishly waited too long to try and get a ticket, and the few showings I could make were all sold out. Then one thing led to another and it kept getting delayed and I still haven't seen it. Not to worry though, I'm seeing it this tuesday, so I can finally rest easy. Anyway, congratutions New Line.

Most of the other movies did as I expected this weekend, except for Peter Pan. I'm astonished it didn't crack the top 5. I honestly expected it to open in 3rd or 4th place at least. I guess people are just getting sick of Peter Pan, and I certainly can't blame them, what with all the many adaptations it's gone through. It's just a shame it had to happen to this one, as it looks to be perhaps the best adaptation yet. I'll probably see it within the next couple of weeks.

See ya!
Blight

[purplehairedwonder]

Wow, Return of the King is doing awesome, and so it should. I'm going to see it again on Friday, so I can proudly say I'm helping that total, in a very small way

I'm surprised Peter Pan didn't do better. It got good reviews and looks good.

Wow, Elf is still up there. That's been out for awhile, hasn't it?

Well, I'm just glad ROTK is doing so well.

[Pilmedium]

"Cold Mountain" should be in top 5 for a month or two, since it's award season.

Should a movie that opens in third place remain in the top five for so long? I guess it could happen if there are very few new releases.

Wow, Elf is still up there. That's been out for awhile, hasn't it?

With Christmas over now, it might drop out faster. It should, anyway.

[Corrado]

"Should a movie that opens in third place remain in the top five for so long? I guess it could happen if there are very few new releases."

The way I see it, there's very few releases in January, and that's why I think it's going to stay in the top 5 for a month or two.

That and the Golden Globes are in a few weeks, and the Oscars are in late February this year.

[Pilmedium]

The way I see it, there's very few releases in January, and that's why I think it's going to stay in the top 5 for a month or two.

That and the Golden Globes are in a few weeks, and the Oscars are in late February this year.

I figured that about the new releases (after all, there none next weekend), but how could upcoming award ceremonies keep the box office gross comparatively higher for some movies? Those events should not determine which movies people want to see.

[The Penguin]

It wasn't at all a suprise to have King maintain its spot at the top.

I was surprised though to see Peter Pan as far down as it was. I predicted that at least one movie would get lost in the shuffle, but I wasn't expecting it to be that one.

Happy to see Dozen doing well though. Hillary Duff and all.

[BabySealClubber]

Add an additional $268 million for its estimated oversea gross. This movie is well on it's way to joining Titanic as in the billionaires club.

I was surprised to see Paycheck do so well considering that it has been all but panned by the critics. Must be the public's insatiable desire for all things Ben Affleck.

On another note, I noticed that Tom Cruise's Last Samurai is quickly falling on the list taking in only $74 million for a film that cost nearly twice as much. This maybe one of his few projects not to clear the $100 million mark. Does he still deserve the rank as Hollywood's leading star in such light?

[Failure]

On another note, I noticed that Tom Cruise's Last Samurai is quickly falling on the list taking in only $74 million for a film that cost nearly twice as much. This maybe one of his few projects not to clear the $100 million mark. Does he still deserve the rank as Hollywood's leading star in such light?

Yeah, I'm surprised the Last Samurai hasn't done much better. I mean all the reviews were solid, everyone I know who've seen it has spoken glowingly about it... yet, it's lacked a broad, commercial appeal for whatever reason. Interestingly, the exact same could be said about Master & Commander.

[EinBebop]

I'd hoped Peter Pan would at least crack the top 5. Looks like the bad reviews killed it. It really is a good movie, but I think the adults avoided taking their kids because of the so called 'sexual context', which there was very little of, unless you were re-he-he-heally looking for it.

The critics didn't kill it; the media did. Check a couple of movie sites that compile reviews, and you'll see it was a solid B/four-star movie.

But a couple of religious movie watchdog sites (and God bless 'em, they provide a valuable service) raised this concern over the movie. But you can't even blame them. They work for a limited audience, and operating under their own power, 99.99% of the movie-going public would never have even heard of it.

No, the news media latched onto this and created the "controversy" in question.

[Elf]

I think the reason why Pan bombed might be that it has a no name cast, no hype, and its the same story all over again.

[Lord Dalek]

200 Million?!? and that's domestic?!? Wow, anybody know how much Titanic grossed in that same period of time?

[EinBebop]

"The way I see it, there's very few releases in January, and that's why I think [Cold Montain is] going to stay in the top 5 for a month or two.

Not to mention that a lot of people probably either went for ROTK or family fare during its opening weekend. Add in that there are no other dramas on this level opening in January, and I think it's one that will have legs as people go to catch it a little later.

I think the reason why Pan bombed might be that it has a no name cast, no hype, and its the same story all over again.

I think it had more to do with competition. Cheaper by the Dozen was a good idea for pulling in families. Between Martin, Duff, and Kutchner, you grab the interest of a wide audience, making it a great family choice. The Elf juggernaut hanging in there didn't exactly help matters, either.

[SSJPabs]

After reading a lot of the reviews for Last Samurai it seems to me that their problem was that Tom Cruise was in the movie. Even with a beard he's still TOM CRUISE not Nathan Algren being played by Tom Cruise.

Several of the reviews I've read said that the movie would have been better had Ken Watanabe's character been the star.

I'll probably end up seeing at at the cheap seats, but thats only because becoming a huge Kenshin fan made me learn all about how this era occured in our reality.

On Peter Pan: I agree.... same old story, boring.

I also have no problem with Hillary Duff, she's very attractive in that pouty-girl type of way and if I was closer to her age I'd be drooling all over myself for her. My problem with Cheaper by the Dozen is that it bears little resemblance to the original movie other than "guy has 12 kids."

As for Lord of the Rings... well I'm seeing it again because it's vindication for loving the books for so many years. But the book was much much better than the film. Although when I sat down rated it, it still got 4.9 out of 5 rings for my TORn review so it was a good movie I thought.

[Leaping Larry Jojo]

The Last Samurai is a good film IN MY OPINION, but the truth is that it is humourless, overlong and the content is steeped in a foreign culture. Not exactly factors that scream out "Box Office Smash". That it has even done as well as it has is a surprise unto itself.

[JLApe]

I figured that about the new releases (after all, there none next weekend), but how could upcoming award ceremonies keep the box office gross comparatively higher for some movies? Those events should not determine which movies people want to see.

They don't, at least not until after the results of the awards are out. But some movies have profited from being nominated, like American Beauty, Titanic, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Chicago.