'Fockers' set to meet another weekend title

Friday, December 31, 2004

U.S. and Canada — With no new competition to speak of, last week's Hollywood fare is set to once again dominate North American Box office receipts over the New Year holiday.

Of the new films opening this weekend, Lions Gate's A Love Song for Bobby Long will have the widest release, playing in eight theatres in Los Angeles and New York. Other openers include ThinkFilm's The Assassination of Richard Nixon, starring Sean Penn and Sony Pictures Classics William Shakespeare's The Merchant of Venice with Al Pacino and Jeremy Irons, both of which will be playing in four venues in New York and Los Angeles.

To be considered in wide release, a film must open or play in at least 1,000 theatres throughout the U.S. and Canada. The lack of any new wide release competition Friday almost ensures that the last week's slate of films will benefit at the box office.

The most likely contender for top-money maker is Universal Studios' Meet the Fockers, the sequel to 200's Meet the Parents starring Ben Stiller, Robert De Niro, Dustin Hoffman and Barbra Streisand. That movie raked in $44.7 million over the Christmas weekend and a total of #108.5 million as of Dec. 29, according to Box Office Mojo.

Fockers is being shown in 3,524 venues over the New Year weekend, six more than last week, making it the second-widest released film for the weekend. Only the Jim Carrey family comedy Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events with 3,623 venues has a wider release.

Wide release films for the weekend of Dec. 31

The following films will be playing in at least 1,000 U.S. and Canada venues:

*Source: Box Office Mojo*
Rank	Title	Studio/Distributor	Theatre Count	Change
1.	Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events	Paramount	3,623	0
2.	Meet the Fockers	Universal	3,524	+6
3.	Ocean's Twelve	Warner Bros.	3,290	0
4.	Fat Albert	20th Century Fox	2,744	+70
5.	The Polar Express	Warner Bros.	2,513	-105
6.	Spanglish	Columbia	2,489	+48
7.	The Flight of the Phoenix	20th Century Fox	2,373	-231
8.	National Treasure	Touchstone	2,282	+81
9.	Blade: Trinity	New Line	2,207	-111
10.	Christmas with the Kranks	Revolution Studios	1,825	-310
11.	The Aviator	Mirimax	1,796	0
12.	Darkness	Dimension	1,718	+18
13.	The Incredibles	Disney/Pixar	1,715	-17
14.	The Life Aquatic with Steve Zissou	Touchstone	1,105	0
15.	Closer	Columbia	1,094	+25
16.	The SpongeBob SquarePants Movie	Paramount	1,068	-248
17.	Finding Neverland	Miramax	1,054	+121

Sources

Box Office Mojo Theatre Count
"`Fockers' tops the box office at year's end" — The Taipei Times, Page 16, Dec. 31

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