Box Office Update for 1/20-1/22: Underworld: Evolution

Vampires and werewolves propel this weeks number one movie to the top. Underworld: Evolution, the sequel to 2003's Underworld, opened strong with more than double the take of its nearest competitor. In doing so, it also found itself with the fourth best January opening ever. The film itself is a lot of fun, even if it does take itself a bit too seriously at times.

Showing some surprising strength in it's second week is Hoodwinked. I saw it over the weekend, and it deserves as much as it gets. Despite the poor trailer, it is a clever movie, taking the Little Red Riding Hood tale and crossing it with Rashomon and Law & Order. Granted, the animation is not up to par with Dreamworks and Pixar's efforts, but the stop motion figure look works for it.

Continuing down the list, Chronicles of Narnia is still drawing in the fans and probably bringing in a lot of repeat business. I never would have guessed that it would be drawing in on the $300 million mark. I'm not sure if it will reach that mark, but it will be fun to see it try. On the other hand, there is King Kong, which is also drawing in the fans bringing its take close to $210 million, when the expectations for it had it drawing up to and breaking that $300 million barrier. It will be difficult for it to do.

Then there is Fun with Dick and Jane. Why are people still seeing this? It can't just be Jim Carrey's star power, that has to have died a little bit, the movie has been out for a while. I would also have suspected that the word of mouth on the poor quality of the film has filtered out. Then again, I know someone who has scene it twice, and didn't like it either time. Perhaps people are seeing it twice hoping it gets better? Oh well, can't predict everything.

Overall, business was up by more than 20% compared to last year. So, I would have to say 2006 is off to a good start. Although I am sure that there will be a bad weekend in the near future to bring the doomsmiths out of hiding.

This Week	Last Week	Title	Wknd Gross	Overall	Week in release
1	N	Underworld: Evolution	$26,857,181	$26,857,181	1
2	3	Hoodwinked	$10,409,378	$28,635,878	2
3	1	Glory Road	$8,769,735	$27,709,549	2
4	2	Last Holiday	$8,711,606	$25,996,384	2
5	9	Brokeback Mountain	$7,430,942	$41,730,237	7
6	4	The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe	$6,236,570	$271,852,138	7
7	6	Fun with Dick and Jane	$5,751,700	$101,368,957	5
8	N	The End of the Spear	$4,281,388	$4,281,388	1
9	5	Hostel	$4,246,471	$42,674,185	3
10	7	King Kong	$4,222,560	$209,875,885	6