Almighty ‘Passion’ to Stay Atop Weekend Box Office
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – As moviegoers continue to render unto Mel Gibson the things that are Gibson’s, the director’s “The Passion of the Christ” should once again reign as the king of kings atop the box office mountain — despite the arrival of three new films.
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Newmarket Films’ R-rated passion play fell just 36% in its second weekend, pulling in another $53.2 million to bring its 12-day gross to $213.9 million.
As of Wednesday, “Passion’s” purse had grown to $228.1 million, and it ranked No. 39 among all-time domestic box office grossers. If its momentum holds this weekend, a 35%-40% decline would see the film pick up another $32 million-$36 million. That, in turn, will boost its cumulative grosses to the $265 million range, kicking it up the all-time chart by at least 15 notches.
In the process, it will surpass IFC Films’ 2002 “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” which has held the record as the most successful independent film ever with its $241.4 million tally. For Bob Berney, who oversaw “Wedding’s” rollout, and now, as president of Newmarket, is handling the “Passion” play, it should be a particularly sweet weekend.
Meanwhile, Sony Pictures is eyeing the No. 2 spot for its new thriller “Secret Window,” starring Johnny Depp. The PG-13 suspense tale about a solitary writer who is stalked by a stranger accusing him of plagiarism is based on a novella by Stephen King and is written and directed by David Koepp, who cut his teeth as a director on 1996’s “The Trigger Effect” and 1999’s “Stir of Echoes.”
But the movie’s not-so-secret calling card is Depp. After his Golden Globe and Academy Award nominations for “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl,” Depp is on a roll. Sony moved up the film’s scheduled release from April 23 — in part, it said, because of strong test scores and also to capitalize on Depp’s current heat — and is hoping the movie can break out in what is quickly becoming a cluttered field.
“Secret Window” should open with a take that could range from high-teen millions to low-$20 millions.
Last weekend’s No. 2, “Starsky & Hutch,” Warner Bros. Pictures’ comic riff on the ’70s crime-fighting duo, will probably check in at the third position. “Starsky” opened to a very muscular $29.1 million, and even if it coasts downward as much as 50%, it could well bring in another $15 million.
That would leave last weekend’s opener from Disney, “Hidalgo,” and this weekend’s new arrival from MGM, “Agent Cody Banks 2: Destination London,” fighting it out for fourth and fifth position as both aim at the kid market. With the first wave of spring vacations beginning to kick in around the country, it could be a heated contest as more school-age kidsdecide how to spend their free time at the multiplex.
“Banks” stars Frankie Muniz of Fox’s “Malcolm in the Middle” as a teenage spy who, this time around, is dispatched to London to save the world in a PG adventure directed by Kevin Allen (“The Big Tease”). It follows the original “Cody Banks” by exactly one year. On March 14 last year, the first “Banks” film opened to $14 million and went on to take in $47.8 million to become what MGM hopes is a budget franchise. The new film, however, is probably looking at a first-weekend gross in the $10 million-plus range.
That could put it in a dead heat with “Hidalgo,” which opened last weekend to $18.8 million. A 40% drop would find the equine saga running in the low-teen millions as it enters its second stretch.
Finally, Warners is launching “Spartan,” a suspense thriller written and directed by David Mamet. The R-rated tale follows a government agent, played by Val Kilmer, as he attempts to rescue the U.S. president’s kidnapped daughter, played by Kristen Bell. The clever Mamet can be an acquired taste, though, as he demonstrated with films like “Heist” and “The Spanish Prisoner.”
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