Tuesday Morning Box Office: 'WOTW' Triumphs, Fails
You've stood on the roof and watched the fireworks. Now it's time to return to the comforting drudgery of the work week, and time to pore over the holiday weekend's box office numbers:
1. War of the Worlds—$77.6 million (4-day), $113.3 million (6-day)
Despite Tom Cruise's very public meltdown, WOTW crossed the $100 million mark over the extended holiday weekend. Or, the flip side: Because of Tom Cruise's very public meltdown, WOTW performed below expectations, pulling in just $77 million over the last four days. See how this works? Because we're inclined to be a suppressive, glass-half-empty sort, we're going to assume that in the absence of Cruise's off-putting antics of the past few weeks, WOTW would have grossed $300 million over six days, thus putting the combined price of the Eiffel Tower and Matt Lauer events at about $187 million. Paramount and DreamWorks can feel free to borrow our creative accounting figures to deny huge paydays to any of the movie's gross-profit participants.
2. Batman Begins—$18.7 million
Using the same calculations that we employed to determine WOTW's imaginary shortfall, we estimate that Katie Holmes' involvement cost BB about $25 million this weekend. A pity.
3. Mr. and Mrs. Smith—$12.7 million
Oh, we're not going to play your little game and put a price on Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt's genitals. Some things are so beautiful that they can't be subjected to crass monetization.
4.Bewitched—$10.8 million
Quick, someone give Will Ferrell a funny mustache and send him streaking down the street before his career cools off.
5. Herbie: Fully Loaded—$10.5 million
Dropping only about $2 million since its first week, Herbie held its (modest) ground, as parents sought an alternative to Spielberg's dark, world-spanning kind of Armageddon and found Lindsay Lohan's more personal variety. Fourth of July weekend has a little something for everybody.