Stealth Gets Ass Handed To On Opening Weekend

[ROC]

'Wedding Crashers' Takes Box-Office Cake

Sunday July 31 1:29 PM ET

Owen Wilson and Vince Vaughn caught the box-office bouquet as their comedy "Wedding Crashers" pulled a switch with a $20.5 million weekend, becoming the No. 1 movie after two weekends in second place.

Johnny Depp's "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory," the top movie the previous two weekends, slipped to No. 2 with $16.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The two holdovers fended off new wide releases whose fair to poor debuts had Hollywood revenues sagging again as a box-office dry spell continued.

Leading the newcomers was "Sky High," featuring Kurt Russell and Kelly Preston in an action comedy set at a high school for superheroes that debuted in third place with $14.6 million.

"Stealth," about Navy pilots (Josh Lucas, Jessica Biel and Jamie Foxx) taking on a rogue drone plane, crashed and burned, finishing at No. 4 with $13.5 million. With an estimated $100 million production budget, "Stealth" will prove a costly money-loser for distributor Sony.

  

The date flick "Must Love Dogs," a romance starring Diane Lane and John Cusack, came in fifth with $13.05 million.

The top 12 movies took in $112.1 million, down a steep 21 percent from the same weekend last year, when "The Village" led the box office with a $50.7 million opening. For the year, movie attendance is down about 10 percent compared to 2004.

It was the second-straight weekend that new movies failed to dislodge "Wedding Crashers" and "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory."

"Audiences are so desperate to find a film they like, they're just hanging on to the same movies," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

"Wedding Crashers" lifted its domestic total to $116.1 million. "Charlie and the Chocolate Factory" has taken in $148.1 million.

"Stealth," directed by Rob Cohen ("The Fast and the Furious"), was the second-straight flick from an established action director to flop. "The Island" from director Michael Bay ("Armageddon"), tanked a week earlier.

"Action just doesn't seem to be what the public is buying this summer," said Rory Bruer, head of distribution for Sony, which released "Stealth." "Comedy seems to be king."

"Wedding Crashers" has filled that bill, casting Wilson and Vaughn as cads who intrude on strangers' weddings to pick up women. While the box-office haul for many big movies falls 50 percent or more in subsequent weekends, revenues for "Wedding Crashers" dipped only 20 percent this weekend.

Audiences looking to laugh also swarmed to "The Aristocrats," which had a stellar debut in limited release, taking in $260,000 in just four New York City and Los Angeles theaters. The documentary by comics Paul Provenza and Penn Jillette features comedians discussing and telling a classic filthy joke.

"The Aristocrats" expands to the top 15 markets on Aug. 12.

Edited August 2, 2005 by Reptilia

[Hellfire]

Oh man, I'm glad that flopped. Looked like such a piece of shit and I felt sorry for Jamie Foxx. Since I have such a bad memory, I'll just say that I was suprised that the Island was as good as it was. I was expecting a trainwreck since Bay was directing, but it was pretty damn entertaining. He used that god damn highway truck thing from Bad Boys II though.

[Ananas]

Is it just me, or is not comedies that are king, but rather good movies? If the studio heads are looking for a reason the box office is in an unbelievably disappointing fiscal year, they need only to actually watch some of the films they've released this year. So far the good movies have done well, while horrible movies have bombed. I have so much more faith in moviegoers this year than 2004, the year Troy, Van Helsing and Meet the Fockers were all smash hits.

[ROC]

I have so much more faith in moviegoers this year than 2004, the year Troy, Van Helsing and Meet the Fockers were all smash hits.

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[zero]

Serves Hollywood right for riding the Jamie Foxx wave and thinking they could get away with this turd. I'm glad we're seeing bad movies fall flat at the box office, but a lot of crap still makes money too.

[Laice07]

I hope the studio's will learn from this....most likely they won;t, but Stealth does look horrible and probably did deserve to flop. As for The Island, some people said it was good, others said it was bad, I might catch it in theatres.

As for the good movies doing good, which I say is 100% true this summer season.....especially for the biggest movie of the summer- Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of The Sith

[Pepsi]

I'm just hoping this leads to more R-rated films from Hollywood. So sick of the recent PG-13 craze of the past 2 years. I can't wait for The 40-Year Old Virgin.

[tristy]

I can't wait for The 40-Year Old Virgin.

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[FunkAsPuck]

Times change, tastes change.

People will buy into anything that looks good to them. People obviously didn't like the look of Stealth or The Island, I mean I can't blame the majority of people on this, I watched the trailers for them and thought "Nothing new here".

I don't think people are suddenly choosing great movies, just suddenly enjoying movies with a better marketting campaigns.

[Pepsi]

Times change, tastes change.

People will buy into anything that looks good to them. People obviously didn't like the look of Stealth or The Island, I mean I can't blame the majority of people on this, I watched the trailers for them and thought "Nothing new here".

I don't think people are suddenly choosing great movies, just suddenly enjoying movies with a better marketting campaigns.

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[thuganomic]

With Wedding Crashers, it was also word of mouth. Everyone around me recommended it, so I went and saw it the 2nd weekend. I then did the same to my friends who hadn't seen it

[Carnage]

Did anyone watch The Soup this week where they made fun of Stealth by cropping Jamie Fox's head from Rey and sticking it in Stealth calling him the blind pilot. It was actually pretty funny. And they kept mentioning Jamie Fox's name too since the media is so obsessed with him recently. The only movie I liked of his was Any Given Sunday.

[Pepsi]

Did anyone watch The Soup this week where they made fun of Stealth  by cropping Jamie Fox's head from Rey and sticking it in Stealth calling him the blind pilot. It was actually pretty funny. And they kept mentioning Jamie Fox's name too since the media is so obsessed with him recently. The only movie I liked of his was Any Given Sunday.

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[Carnage]

Oh yeah I forgot he was even in that. Fine two movies. But still, he was in Booty Call which just makes him lose all credibility.

[zero]

Oh yeah I forgot he was even in that. Fine two movies. But still, he was in Booty Call which just makes him lose all credibility.

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So I guess Tom Hanks has no credibility because he was in Splash or Bosom Buddies? Damn those actors for trying to make it in the business and taking whatever role they could get.

[Mick]

Oh yeah I forgot he was even in that. Fine two movies. But still, he was in Booty Call which just makes him lose all credibility.

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So I guess Tom Hanks has no credibility because he was in Splash or Bosom Buddies? Damn those actors for trying to make it in the business and taking whatever role they could get.

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You left out Bachelor Party.....

Seriously, the only reason why Jamie Foxx is in Stealth is because Stealth was made before Ray. They just had a lot of special effects work for Stealth, plus of course sending it out to make the most money, being in summer. I'm sure Jamie Foxx wouldn't have done the movie if he had the status that he now has.

As far as Booty Call....

That was fuckin' funny.

[Carnage]

Oh yeah I forgot he was even in that. Fine two movies. But still, he was in Booty Call which just makes him lose all credibility.

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So I guess Tom Hanks has no credibility because he was in Splash or Bosom Buddies? Damn those actors for trying to make it in the business and taking whatever role they could get.

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[Pepsi]

I'm sure Jamie Foxx wouldn't have done the movie if he had the status that he now has.