THE SIMPSONS - EAT MY SHORTS -- ESTIMATE WAS OFF

As it turned out, even the official estimate of The Simpsons Movie was significantly off the mark Monday. Final figures put weekend ticket sales at $74.04 million, up from the $71.85-million studio estimate issued on Sunday. It was the fifth-highest-grossing film of the year. Three other new films opened unimpressively. No Reservations, starring Catherine Zeta-Jones, debuted in fifth place with $11.7 million, while the Lindsay Lohan starrer I Know Who Killed Me tanked with $3.5 million, and the urban comedy Who's Your Caddy? barely made it into the top-ten with just $2.7 million. Overall, the box office was up 45 percent from the same weekend a year ago, according to Media by Numbers. For the year, it said, ticket sales are up 5.4 percent to $5.81 billion. Attendance has increased 1.7 percent.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Media by Numbers (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. The Simpsons Movie, 20th Century Fox, $74,036,787, (New); 2. I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, Universal, $19,132,965, 2 Wks. ($71,680,080); 3. Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Warner Bros., $17,733,085, 3 Wks. ($242,439,214); 4. Hairspray, New Line, $15,899,890, 2 Wks. ($59,657,287); 5. No Reservations, Warner Bros., $11,704,357, (New); 6. Transformers, Paramount, $11,643,129, 4 Wks. ($284,677,134); 7. Ratatouille, Disney, $7,455,594, 5 Wks. ($179,904,396); 8. Live Free or Die Hard, 20th Century Fox, $5,618,728, 5 Wks. ($125,396,389); 9. I Know Who Killed Me, Sony, $3,506,291, (New); 10. Who's Your Caddy?, MGM, $2,756,661, (New).

31/07/2007