Gibson's Apocalypto Smolders at Box Office

Sunday, December 17, 2006  -  reddit

Friday's numbers are in and Apocalypto has plummeted to fifth against light competition. The Will Smith flick The Pursuit Of Happyness ruled the land with $9 million on Friday, followed closely by Eragon with $8.6m, live action remake of animated children's favorite Charlotte's Web with $3.4m, The Holiday with with $2.5m and finally Apocalypto with a paltry $2.2m.

Mel Gibson's latest has been crashing all week. All films drop off significantly from Sunday to Monday, but gradually build a head of steam over the course of the week into the following weekend. The average drop among the top 5 films on Monday was about 69.62%, and Apocalypto did well here dropping only 65.5%. Unlike most of the other films that went up from Monday through Thursday, Apocalypto continued to drop every single day.

By Friday but before the numbers were in, it wasn't hard to guess that word of mouth about Apocalypto wasn't the kind you want to hear if you're a studio with something to lose. The films opening while better than Braveheart was tepid in the overall picture and seems to be fading fast as the holidays approach.

I missed my prediction that Apocalypto would open behind Blood Diamond, but it looks like I was right in the numbers that mattered. The film has only grossed $22 million domestically which means the studio has only recouped $11m in the $40+ that it cost to make. If it hadn't given them such a poor showing on Friday, there might be some hope of a profit in the future, but this one wasn't meant to be. Fifth this weekend will only get worse as time goes on, and that $22m first week+opening weekend just won't cut it.

My condolences to Mel and congratulations to Smith. I wonder how much his flick cost to make?

The text of this article is © 2006 Paul W. Tenny. All rights reserved. This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 2.5 License. Attribution by: full name.