For 2 openers, it’s still the dog days

The mid-July surge that broke a 19-week streak of down weekends was short-lived as two big studio movies -- DreamWorks’ “The Island” and Paramount’s “Bad News Bears” -- opened to numbers that were as disappointing as they were unsurprising.

A uniquely odd couple of small movies, however -- one about a Memphis pimp who aspires to break free from his dodgy existence, and the other about penguins simply struggling to survive in Antarctica -- provided a bright spot on a weekend in the dog days of summer, each coincidentally representing best-ever numbers for their respective studios’ specialized-film units.

“Hustle & Flow,” the well-reviewed Sundance favorite that was Brad Grey’s first acquisition as chairman of Paramount Pictures, opened with an estimated $8.1 million in seventh place with the second highest per-theater average in the top 10. “March of the Penguins” added more than 550 theaters and delivered the documentary’s biggest weekend yet, $4.3 million, and edged into the top 10 for the first time.

Averaging about $8,000 per theater in just over 1,000 locations, “Hustle,” written and directed by Craig Brewer and starring Terrence Howard, represented the biggest opening for Paramount Classics and, after only three days in theaters, is also the unit’s second-highest-grossing film to date. (“The Gift” is its top-grosser.)

Audiences for the R-rated drama on which MTV Films partnered with the Classics unit were 60% female, and 64% were 25 and older, according to theater exit surveys. Roughly 80% of the audience was made up of African Americans, and 20% were white, Paramount reported.

“Penguins,” now in 695 theaters, continued an upward trajectory begun five weekends ago when the movie opened in just four theaters. Warner Independent Pictures said that TV ads for the expanded release drove up ticket sales in all four of the original venues, which include Pacific’s ArcLight in Hollywood where business for the movie is up 24%, and Laemmle’s Monica in Santa Monica.

Apart from “Hustle,” none of the weekend’s three other major new releases -- “The Island,” “Bad News Bears” and “The Devil’s Rejects” -- posted remarkable numbers. That said, the estimated $12.1 million taken in by “The Island” is noteworthy as the lowest opening for any film directed by Michael Bay, according to statistics on box office tracking site Boxofficemojo.com.

“Bad News Bears,” Paramount Pictures’ PG-13-stretching remake of a 29-year-old kid-themed comedy, scored $11.5 million, nearly in the same neighborhood but less than “Bad Santa,” the raunchy R-rated film from the same star (Billy Bob Thornton) and writing team (Glenn Ficarra and John Requa), which grossed $12.3 million when it opened in late November of 2003.

Rocker-turned-moviemaker Rob Zombie’s “The Devil’s Rejects” took in about $7 million, more than double the opening weekend figure for his earlier “House of 1000 Corpses.”

Meanwhile, last weekend’s No. 1 and 2 movies held onto their spots. The PG-13 family movie “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” took in an estimated $28.3 million and the R-rated comedy “Wedding Crashers” tallied $26.2 million, declining only about 23% in its second weekend.

Totals for those films stand at about $114.1 million for Warner Bros.’ “Charlie” and $80.9 million for New Line Cinema’s “Crashers,” which had the best per-theater average in the top 10 of $8,957 per location.

Fueled by “Charlie and the Chocolate Factory” and “Wedding Crashers,” last week’s full-week total of $252.5 million was second only to Memorial Day week ($279.9 million) this year, according to box office tracking firm Nielsen EDI Inc.

With lackluster performance from the major studio openers, needless to say, business overall was down again -- 10% off the comparable period last year -- after bouncing back the past two weekends, according to EDI.

The estimate for “Charlie” is the lowest for a No. 1 film in July since “Road to Perdition” tallied $15.4 million for first place in its second weekend in 2002.

Year to date, business is running 8% behind the same time last year, according to EDI, and summer is off 10%.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 3-day gross Total

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*--* Charlie and the Chocolate Factory $28.3 $114.1

Wedding Crashers 26.2 80.9

Fantastic Four 12.3 122.6

The Island 12.1 12.1

Bad News Bears 11.5 11.5

War of the Worlds 8.8 208.3

Hustle & Flow 8.1 8.1

The Devil’s Rejects 7.0 7.0

Batman Begins 4.7 191.1

March of the Penguins 4.3 9.3 Source: Nielsen EDI Inc. Los Angeles Times

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