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Fourth 'Scary Movie' spooks competition at box office
2006-04-16
"Scary Movie 4," the latest in the comedy series that mocks popular horror movies, spooked the competition across North America this weekend and apparently set a record for the best Easter weekend opening ever. "Scary Movie 4" pulled in an estimated 41 million dollars, according to the Encino, California-based Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc., which tracks box office sales. With an eclectic cast including popular television personality Dr. Phil, basketball star Shaquille O'Neal and model Carmen Electra, "Scary Movie" spoofs recent films like "War of the Worlds", "The Grudge", "Saw" and "The Village". In a distant second was the "Ice Age: The Meltdown", an animated comedy about prehistoric mammals, which pulled in 20 million dollars in its second week on the big screen. The popular family film has now grossed more than 147 million dollars. The baseball comedy "Benchwarmers" starring David Spade, Rob Schneider and Jon Heder -- the nerdy star of "Napoleon Dynamite" -- came in third place, taking in 10 million dollars its second weekend. But an animated Disney family movie, "The Wild," disappointed in its opening weekend at fourth, earning an estimated 9.6 million dollars. "Take the Lead," starring Spanish heartthrob Antonio Banderas as a dance instructor to a group of teenagers, tumbled two spots to fifth place with 6.7 million dollars. Director Spike Lee's heist thriller "Inside Man," starring Denzel Washington, was sixth with ticket receipts of 6.3 million dollars, bringing its four-week take to 75.3 million dollars. Seventh was the crime thriller "Lucky Number Slevin" with 4.6 million dollars, disappointing some box office analysts who had expected a better opening performance for the film with a high-powered cast led by Josh Hartnett, Morgan Freeman, Bruce Willis and Ben Kingsley. Rounding out the top 10 were "Thank You for Smoking", which surprisingly climbed two spots to eighth place (4.5 million dollars), the comedy "Failure to Launch" (2.6 million dollars,) and "V for Vendetta" (2.2 million dollars). The weekend's top 12 grossing films were expected to bring in about 110 million dollars, against 102.8 million dollars the previous weekend and 89.4 million during the same period in 2005, according to Exhibitor Relations.
'Scary Movie' Sends Weinsteins to the Top (2006-04-17)'Scary Movie 4' Opens With $41 Million (2006-04-16)Fourth 'Scary Movie' spooks competition at box office (2006-04-16)'Ice Age' Leads Box Office for 2nd Week (2006-04-09)'Ice Age' Debut Nets $70.5M in Cold Cash (2006-04-02)
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