Last night’s figures say it’s a neck-and-neck thing between I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry , which is being projected to do $34,336,000 (almost 3500 screens, over $9000 a print), and Harry Potter and the Order of the Pheonix, which is projected to make $34,236,000 (down 56% from last weekend). The respective Universal and Warner Bros. releases are apparently so close that it’ll probably come down to a question of which studio will inflate its figures enough to beat the other.
The irony is that the third-place Hairspray, which is looking at a $30,367,000 weekend total ($9700 a print, about 3100 theatres), could have been in a three-way horse race with Chuck and Potter if it had opened in 3500 theatres. That $9700-per-situation average tells you it could have conceivably racked up $33 or even $34 million if it had played in an extra 500 theatres. Hairspray is well-liked and has a mostly female audience, and is probably going to hold better than the somewhat despised Chuck and Larry.
Transformers wil be fourth with a projected $20,454,000, followed by Ratatouille with $11,629,000, and a fifth-place Live Free and Die Hard with $7,446,000. License to Wed will take in $3661, give or take, and Evan Almighty will grab $2,591,000. (The Almighty tally will $93,600,000 by Sunday night, — it may crest $100 million by the time it’s done.) 1408 will earn around $2,452,000, and tenth-place Knocked Up with bring in $2,389,999.
Sicko almost doubled their runs and took in $1,932,000 (about $1700 per theatre). It’s got a little more than $19 million now. It’ll end up with $23, maybe $24 million. Danny Boyle‘s Sunshine, playing in ten theatres, will do about $255,000 — a very strong $25 thousand a print. Goya’s Ghost (Goldwyn) opened in 49 theatres, will do about $159,000 or $3200 a theatre…nothing.