US Weekend Box Office Chart - The Island Flops

There have been loads of massive blockbuster movies so far this summer: Star Wars, Mr & Mrs Smith, Batman, War Of The Worlds, Fantastic Four… it seems to make a successful summer movie, you need to basically blow a bunch of stuff up all over the place.

There are two exceptions to this theory. Firstly there’s Charlie And The Chocolate Factory. No thunderous explosions, no super-heroes, no space aliens. Instead, there’s a charming, visually rich adaptation of a well-loved children’s book. And audiences love it - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory is still number one in the US weekend box office chart.

And the other exception is The Island. It follows our summer blockbuster theory exactly: a vaguely sci-fie theme, guns, explosions, car chases - it’s directed by Michael Bay, after all - but The Island has flopped badly in the box office.

The Island cost $122 million to make, and stars Ewan McGregor - already the star of this year’s biggest movie - and Hollywood’s flavour of the month, Scarlett Johansson. It’s a bang bang bang extravaganza, but people just don’t want to see it. "Clearly, this is a disappointing opening" according to Jim Tharp, Head of Distribution at DreamWorks. How does the chart look? See for your yourself…

1 - Charlie And The Chocolate Factory (Yeah yeah yeah, hurry up and remake The Twits) $28,300,000

2 - Wedding Crashers (Look! It’s got Owen Wilson from The Haunting and Vince Vaughn from Psycho in it!) $26,200,000

3 - Fantastic Four (An invisible Jessica Alba? That’s missing the point somewhat, surely) $12,275,000

4 - The Island (An series of explosions raises eyebrows on The Isle Of Mann) $12,100,000

5 - Bad News Bears (Another ‘bad coach turns some misfits into sporting champions’ movie. Woo!) $11,500,000

6 - War Of The Worlds ("You don’t know anything about alien invasion, Matt. I do") $8,825,000

7 - Hustle And Flow (In a nutshell, 8 Mile) $8,100,000

8 - The Devil’s Rejects (One of the most violent, depraved movies ever, apparently) $7,000,000

9 - Batman Begins (Batman begins to varnish his floor,
but realises he’s started at the wrong end and has to sit in a corner
of his kitchen until it dries) $4,730,000

10 - March of The Penguins (Morgan Freeman’s third film in the top ten, this time narrating a documentary about a penguin. Really) $4,300,000

[story by Stuart Heritage]