| Title | Ew,Gross! | Per Screen | Totalitarian | |
| 1 | Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix | $77,410,000 | $18,065 | $140,017,000 |
| 2 | Transformers | $36,000,000 (-48.9%) | $8,888 | $222,990,000 |
| 3 | Ratatouille | $18,019,000 (-37.9%) | $4,970 |
$143,004,000 |
| 4 | Live Free or Die Hard | $10,875,000 (-38.7%) | $3,397 | $102,918,000 |
| 5 | License to Wed |
$7,440,000 (-28.6%) | $2,740 | $30,508,000 |
| 6 | 1408 | $5,010,000 (-29.3%) | $2,271 | $62,202,000 |
| 7 | Evan Almighty | $4,972,000 (-43.0%) | $1,840 | $87,867,000 |
| 8 | Knocked Up | $3,653,000 (-30.1%) | $2,130 | $138,194,000 |
| 9 | Sicko | $2,650,000 (-26.4%) | $3,505 | $15,876,000 |
| 10 | Ocean’s Thirteen | $1,910,000 (-45.8%) | $1,535 | $112,432,000 |
Not in the top ten: Captivity, which grossed a paltry $1.5 million. Lionsgate is having the summer that Warner Brothers had last year, as nothing’s working the way it should, while their supposed home run, Sicko, is profitable, but underperforming.
Hey, Harry Potter made money. No one saw that coming. No one, except me. And everyone else. What Warner Brothers has to worry about is Potter‘s summer vs. winter legs. Summer released Prisoner of Azkaban was the series lowest domestic gross, so this one will show if the series is better off in November. But with the final book coming out any day now, perhaps the film will get an extra bump. At least that’s what WB is hoping. Even with the summer season dying down, it’s not as if that helps give a picture legs. It should top out close to $300, so everyone’s happy.
Transformers dropped nearly 50%, which is a standard drop, and crossed the $200 mark this weekend. $300 doesn’t seem out of the question, though how bad it falls next week will spell that out. I think it has a chance of besting Spidey as the highest grosser of the summer, and I’m sure the sequel is being hashed out as we speak, hoping to beat the impending strike.
Ratatouille held well, and should play steady for a while, if it can weather Harry okay, which it’s looking to. Die Hard 4 has now crossed the century mark, which is sort of impressive, considering it looks like a piece. Next week it’ll be out of the top five, and a week after that it won’t be pretty. But if the production budget was $110, then they will make that and some change. Hope that international is above average.
License to Wed? Are you fucking shitting me? Are you fucking and shitting me? How do you that? Why would you do that? Mandy Moore’s highest previous grosser was Because I Said So at $42 million, so this might turn out to be her highest gross yet. Who are these people who think that seeing that movie might be entertaining?
1408 and Knocked Up keep taking it home, while Evan Almighty has a chance of cracking $100. Again, is that a victory when you cost $175?
Next week brings Hairspray, which is said to be a crowd pleaser, but I don’t know how the mainstream is going to gel with John Travolta in a fat suit playing a woman. Either they’ll love it or be frightened. My guess is that it is a bad movie to take drugs before watching, but other than that, will the Midwest flock to it as they did Wild Hogs? I don’t know. This could be crossover big, but with New Line becoming the new MGM, I have my doubts. Also arriving will be I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry, which has a listed run time of 140 minutes. Say it ain’t so, Sandler. So it’s a very homo-centric weekend. Which is kind of cool, but I bet the film with the nervous gay jokes is the bigger success. Cause it has Jessica Biel in a cat suit. Meow. Meow.