Rank
Title
Weekend
Gross
Cumulative
Gross
Weeks in Release
1

Wedding Crashers
$20,400,000

$116,000,000
3
2

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory
$16,300,000

$148,000,000
3
3

Sky High

$14,500,000

$14,500,000
1
4

Stealth
$13,500,000

$13,500,000
1
5

Must Love Dogs
$13,000,000

$13,000,000
1
6

Fantastic Four
$6,800,000

$136,100,000
4
7

The Island

$5,600,000

$23,900,000
2
8

War of the Worlds
$5,400,000
$218,300,000
5
9

Bad News Bears
$5,400,000
$22,400,000
2
10

March of the Penguins
$4,100,000
$16,400,000
6
Is the "event picture" slowly reaching the end of its viable lifespan?  If this year is any indication… possibly.  Except for suprise hit Wedding Crashers and superstar-powered Mr. and Mrs. Smith, no film that wasn’t already based on a previously existing intellectual property has made any kind of impression, and audiences are beginning to greet once-reliable "tentpole" movies with a remarkable level of insouciance. 

This was again proven with the 4th place entry (where Michael Bay’s The Island crashed last week) of the whiz-bang action flick Stealth, a theoretical blockbuster fueled with digital aircraft, rock music and pretty stars, which wasn’t enough to defeat Disney’s colorful superhero movie Sky High and was barely enough to sneak past the thirtysomething romcom Must Love Dogs (each of which cost 1/3 as much).  

Will studios learn anything from the drastically underperforming films of this year, and perhaps focus instead on potential sleepers for a fraction of the budget?  I doubt it (DVD practically guarantees a profit now, though certain people don’t want that becoming common knowledge), but we could definitely see a few less movies being made for $125+ million…

Next weekend has a single new movie offered in wide release, the remake of yeehaw 70s show The Dukes of Hazzard.