‘Madea’s’ stays in top spot, Oscar picks fade

It was one of those rare Oscar weekends when not one nominated movie made it into the top 10.

Neither the Academy Award hopefuls nor the four wide releases entering the market did enough business to dislodge Tyler Perry’s “Madea’s Family Reunion” from first place. “Madea’s” took in an estimated $13 million, bringing its two-weekend total to about $48.1 million.

Its closest competitor, the Bruce Willis-Mos Def vehicle “16 Blocks,” grossed about $11.7 million in its debut. Other newcomers in the top 10 were the Milla Jovovich sci-fi/action movie “Ultraviolet” with $9 million in fourth place, mermaid-out-of-water comedy “Aquamarine” in fifth with $7.5 million, and the hip-hop musical documentary “Dave Chappelle’s Block Party” in seventh with $6.5 million.

While business for many Oscar-nominated films had fallen in recent weeks, it increased for a few. “Brokeback Mountain,” which lost 87 theaters, saw nearly a 10% increase over last weekend with $2.5 million and a total of $79.9 million. With 269 additional theaters, “Capote” jumped almost 89% to $2 million, and $25.9 million to date.

The Weinstein Co. and IFC Films more than doubled the theaters for actress nominee Felicity Huffman’s “Transamerica” to 656, resulting in an almost 85% jump to nearly $1.6 million and a total of $6.6 million.

Among foreign-language film nominees, “Joyeux Noel” opened in six theaters with about $50,133.

With most of the Academy Award nominees peaking in the weeks after the nominations, and the current weekend’s ho-hum debuts, box office was down 14% compared with last year’s Oscar weekend (which was a week earlier), according to tracking service Nielsen EDI.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total Madea’s Family Reunion $13 $48.1

16 Blocks 11.7 11.7

Eight Below 10.3 58.8

Ultraviolet 9 9

Aquamarine 7.5 7.5

The Pink Panther 7 69.8

Dave Chappelle’s Block Party 6.5 6.5

Date Movie 5.1 40.7

Curious George 4.4 49.2

Firewall 3.6 42.5

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Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

Los Angeles Times