MovieMantz Rantz: Box Office Goes Down (May 15, 2006)

“Box Office Goes Down with the Ship!”

We’re two weekends into the summer movie season, and theater owners still have yet to see that big, huge, record-breaking opening at the box office that they’ve all been waiting for.

Despite an ultrawide opening in 3,555 theaters, “Poseidon” was no match for “M:i:III,” which held the top spot again with an estimated $24.5 million. The Tom Cruise actioner dropped 49% from it’s underwhelming opening last weekend — not such a bad thing, but Paramount execs were surely hoping that it would hold on stronger after getting such great reviews and terrific word-of-mouth. It now stands at $84.6 million, but it’s doing gangbusters overseas — it’s worldwide total is now $213.8 million.

“Poseidon” set sail for second place on its maiden voyage with just over $20 million — hardly an impressive opening for such a special effects-heavy blockbuster. With a reported budget of more than $175 million, the remake of the 1972 classic “The Poseidon Adventure” will have to count on huge numbers overseas if its distributor, Warner Bros., hopes to make its money back.

So why the weak opening? Perhaps the prospect of seeing thousands of people die in a big summer blockbuster isn’t as much fun as it used to be in the aftermath 9/11, but more than likely, Warner Bros. did a terrible job in marketing the movie.

As for why such a critically-reviled movie like “RV” is holding on strong in third with $9.5 million — bringing its 3-week total to $42.8 million — your guess is as good as mine.

But perhaps the biggest surprise was the weak opening of “Just My Luck.” In what was supposed to be a more mature effort for Lindsay Lohan, the romantic comedy failed to click beyond her loyal fan base of teenage girls and opened in fourth with just $5.5 million. Seems that Tom Cruise isn’t the only over-exposed movie star these days, so perhaps moviegoers were burned out on Lohan after reading about her almost every day in the tabloids.

As for the box office, I wouldn’t worry — a little movie called “The Da Vinci Code” opens Friday (maybe you’ve heard of it), along with the DreamWorks computer-animated comedy “Over the Hedge,” so I have a feeling that theater owners won’t have that much longer to wait to see that big opening weekend!