News for
Coach Carter (2005)

photos

board

trailer

details

3 articles from 2006

18 January 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Overall, the box office was down 8 percent from last year as none of the four new films released over the holiday weekend came close to doing the business that last year's two leaders, Coach Carter and the fifth week of Meet the Fockers did during the same period last year. Paramount's Last Holiday was close behind the two leaders with $15.5 million, but 20th Century Fox's Tristan & Isolde tanked with just $7.6 million. Disney's The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe continued to hold up well after six weeks, adding $12.8 million to its gross and placing fourth. Last week's winner, Lionsgate's horror film Hostel, saw its take cut almost in half to $11.4 million. But Sony's Fun With Dick and Jane remained sturdy, winding up in sixth place with $10.3 million and rising above Universal's King Kong, which dropped to seventh place with $9.1 million. (It also passed the $200-million mark as it brought its domestic total to $204.5 million) Rounding out the top ten, Focus Features' Brokeback Mountain earned $7 million in just 683 theaters, placing ninth. (It remained the box-office champ on a per-theater basis.) Fox's Cheaper by the Dozen 2 came in tenth with $6.8 million. The top ten films over the four-day Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date): 1. Glory Road, Disney, $16,927,589, (New); 2. Hoodwinked, Weinstein Co. $15,508,779, (New); 3. Last Holiday, Paramount, $16,879,402, (New); 4. The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe, Disney, $12,809,767, 6 Wks. ($264,020,859); 5. Hostel, Lions Gate, $11,411,250, 2 Wks. ($36,572,577); 6. Fun With Dick and Jane, Sony, $10,344,702, 4 Wks. ($94,245,955); 7. King Kong, Universal, $9,061,690, 5 Wks. ($204,527,690); 8. Tristan & Isolde, 20th Century Fox, $7,612,008, (New); 9. Brokeback Mountain, Focus Features, $7,041,508, 6 Wks. ($32,074,517); 10. Cheaper by the Dozen 2, 20th Century Fox, $6,806,052, 4 Wks. ($74,668,267).

Permalink | Report a problem

16 January 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Disney's Glory Road was no match for last year's inspiring-coach movie Coach Carter and Paramount's Last Holiday certainly was no Meet the Fockers, but both films performed relatively well for the first three days of the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend. Glory Road took in an estimated $13.5 million at the box office, versus Coach Carter's $23.6 million for the comparable three-day weekend a year ago. Last Holiday placed second with about $13 million, versus $19 million for the fourth week of Meet the Fockers last year. The real surprise was the Weinstein Co.'s $12.2-million gross for the animated Hoodwinked. Most box-office analysts had held little hope for the cartoon. A fourth newcomer, Fox's Tristan & Isolde, came in eighth with a weak $6.6 million.

Permalink | Report a problem

13 January 2006 | From Studio Briefing | See recent Studio Briefing news

Last year at this time it was Coach Carter; this year, it's Glory Road -- what A.O. Scott in the New York Times calls, the "season's obligatory inspirational coach-centered sports movie." Like other critics, Scott observes that the film will win no awards for originality. He adds: "Movies like this are rarely great, but when executed properly, they're rarely bad, either. Glory Road is satisfying less for its virtuosity than for its sincerity, and also because it will acquaint audiences with a remarkable episode that had ramifications far beyond the basketball court" -- the appearance in 1966 of an all-black basketball team for the first time in the NCAA basketball championships. Roger Ebert in the Chicago Sun-Times writes that the film succeeds "as the story of a chapter in history, the story of how one coach at one school arrived at an obvious conclusion and acted on it, and helped open college sports in the South to generations of African Americans." But Chris Kaltenbach in the Baltimore Sun doesn't buy any of such praise. "The end result is more a lecture than a film; audiences may come away understanding what went on, but for most, the emotional connection will be lacking," he writes. Similarly, David Hiltbrand in the Philadelphia Inquirer concludes: "Viewed as a recreation of a watershed moment, Glory Road is sturdy, efficient, perhaps even worthy. Taken as cinema, however, it falls far short of inspiring."

Permalink | Report a problem

3 articles from 2006