Will Ferrell Movie Disappoints At Box Office With $15M

LOS ANGELES — Will Ferrell's basketball comedy "Semi-Pro" dribbled to the top of the weekend box office, but it fell short of his previous blockbuster openings in the sports spoof genre, according to studio estimates Sunday.

The New Line Cinema film, starring Ferrell as the owner of a fictional basketball franchise, grossed $15.3 million in its weekend debut. That was lackluster compared to Ferrell's 2006 NASCAR parody "Talledega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby," which opened at $47 million, and last year's figure skating comedy "Blades of Glory," which earned $33 million in its first weekend.

Box office analysts said "Semi-Pro" likely suffered because it was released during a normally slow season and was rated R, while "Talledega Nights" and "Blades of Glory" were rated PG-13.

"Will Ferrell is always a draw and audiences love him. But this particular weekend is not quite as strong as his earlier efforts," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracker Media By Numbers LLC.

New Line representatives declined to comment. Last week, media conglomerate Time Warner Inc. announced that New Line would be merged with its Warner Bros. Entertainment studio to cut costs and improve profitability.

Last weekend's top film, the Sony Pictures terrorism thriller "Vantage Point," dropped to second place with $13 million in ticket sales, bringing its two-week domestic total to $41 million.

Sony's new release "The Other Boleyn Girl" performed better than expected, opening at No. 4 with $8.3 million at 1,166 theaters. Its $7,118 per theater average outdistanced other movies in the marketplace.

The weekend's other opening, the Summit Entertainment fantasy romantic comedy "Penelope," debuted in eighth place with $4 million.

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Box office revenues overall were down for the third straight week. The top 12 movies grossed $81 million, down 10 percent from last weekend and 25 percent from the same weekend in 2007.

Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Media By Numbers LLC. Final figures will be released Monday.

1. "Semi-Pro," $15.3 million.

2. "Vantage Point," $13 million.

3. "Spiderwick Chronicles," $8.8 million.

4. "The Other Boleyn Girl," $8.3 million

5. "Jumper," $7.6 million.

6. "Step Up 2 The Streets," $5.7 million.

7. "Fool's Gold," $4.7 million.

8. "Penelope," $4 million.

9. "No Country For Old Men," $4 million.

10. "Juno," $3.4 million.

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On the Net:

http://www.mediabynumbers.com

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Universal Pictures and Focus Features are owned by NBC Universal, a joint venture of General Electric Co. and Vivendi Universal; Sony Pictures, Sony Screen Gems and Sony Pictures Classics are units of Sony Corp.; DreamWorks, Paramount and Paramount Vantage are divisions of Viacom Inc.; Disney's parent is The Walt Disney Co.; Miramax is a division of The Walt Disney Co.; 20th Century Fox, Fox Searchlight Pictures and Fox Atomic are owned by News Corp.; Warner Bros., New Line, Warner Independent and Picturehouse are units of Time Warner Inc.; MGM is owned by a consortium of Providence Equity Partners, Texas Pacific Group, Sony Corp., Comcast Corp., DLJ Merchant Banking Partners and Quadrangle Group; Lionsgate is owned by Lionsgate Entertainment Corp.; IFC Films is owned by Rainbow Media Holdings, a subsidiary of Cablevision Systems Corp.

Comments

[white mende man]

that's what trash does... disapoints
aren't we awash with enough rubbish already? do they need to cram it down our throats as well?

[speakyourmind]

Interesting that they entitled the article that way, even though it was the #1 movie of that weekend.

[YellowPanties]

Well, "#1" means nothing if the movie fails to meet "expectations," which is another way of saying the movie is not going to make money.

The box office isn't a horserace. It doesn't matter what the 1st place film is because you have to look at how much they spent on production, how much on marketing, how big the star's participation in profits is, and so on. This film could be #1 for several weeks and still have to wait for DVD to actually earn any profit.

[mcnary]

A flop about a bigger flop(THE ABA). When you see them pump up a movie sooooooo much before it ever comes out you can bet its going down. PU.

[dragonswizardz]

Why should those Hollywood "suits" be "surprised"? This guy has positively no talent whatsowever; he could not act his way out of a burlap bag. And he also is most definitely overpaid!!!! He IS NOT funny; he is insulting & rather boring actually since he seems to have only one method to his acting madness. Nor should he be taken as a "serious" actor. For in reality he is neitehr a comedian nor a actor. Personally, I could care less whether he makes a movie or not. And should he continue insulting today's movie goer, those Hollywood exec "suits" had better be prepared to lose lots more money.

[ilovedessert]

The only thing I ever saw him was Bewitched, which was a total waste of celluloid. He is a no talent nothing, he has made the same piece of junk movie again and again.

[speakyourmind]

Bewitched was terrible. You should see "Ron Burgundy, a Portrait of an Anchorman.­"

[Canuknotusa]

I think Ferrell best represents Amerika during the Bush Revolution. i.e., Art imitating reality...

[bac]

Will Ferrell is terribly over-rated, and not very funny. Never was, not even on Saturday Night Live. The sheep are finally catching on. (But if he is indeed helping social causes, that would be somewhat redeeming!)

[FeloniouslyAnnoying]

Yes people whose taste differs from you are "sheep", talk about extreme narcissism.

[BillLumbergh]

Having an opinion isn't narcissistic, foo...

[hope4theflowers]

people are sick of lame ,juvenle humor.Seem­s there is a war on intelligence in this country.,a­nd the msm and hollywood are wmd.

[beachcruiser]

It was one of the worst movies I've ever seen. Just no laughs whatsoever. A no-effort effort. Will: do yourself and your fans a favor by restraining from making another concept-less sports spoof. Wow, a big afro wig - hilarious. Wow, tight shorts - a real tour de force. You phoned it in and so did the rest of the cast.

[WilliePilgrim]

15 million? That's a lot of money for something that couldn't have cost more than a few hundred thousand to make...unl­ess you include the salaries of the parasites that come along with its executive suite and advertising. The good thing is; it's will do nicely to reduce the tax that the princes of hollywood will pay. Yet another reason to dump the tax system where creative book-keeping and lavish expenditures on pampering themselves are encouraged as a sign of fiduciary responsibility.

[YellowPanties]

I can almost guarantee you that this film cost north of $40M to make, not including $20 M or so spent on advertising. Plus, a topline star like Will Farrell, whose name alone can "open" a picture, is probably getting a sweet deal on the back end. Also, the interest the production is paying on its loan of the $40M is also running nearly $1M per month, so it's hardly a joyous occasion when their movie pulls in $15M.

Until this movie generates around $70M, no one is making any money beyond their weekly paychecks.

Not sure what your "tax system" rant means, or if it even has any meaning.

[jacobomorales]

Junk is junk!

[NickCatal]

I went to see the movie (I had gotten to the theater too late to see Be Kind Rewind, I'm a fan of Michael Gondry) and to be honest the only thing that made it R was too many uses of the F word and one sex scene that showed nothing. It could have been made PG-13 amazingly easily.

It also wasn't all that funny. Thank god for the student discount.

[pzdoff]

Fifteen million dollars means a lot of stupi people lined up to see this non talented idiot.

[ResistanceisFutile]

One trick ponies get old, unless you are a brain dead consumer.

[Kyuzo]

I believe this is the second time I've seen HuffPo refer to a #1 film at the box office as a "disappointing failure."

[bac]

Definitely an irony here. Ferrell must be disappointedly trudging all the way to the bank!

[alguien]

it is considered a failure when the opening weekend goal for a movie like this is around $30-50 million.

[speakyourmind]

I noticed that too. Some "failure," it was the #1 movie of that weekend.

[jglatzer]

"Will Ferrell is always a draw and audiences love him" that is bullshit..­.sorry but he's not a draw to me and i dont love him. its the same shtick every movie. be completely ridiculous and throw out stupid lines and the dumb audience eats it up. i guess people may be catching on to his bullshit fests he calls movies. i didnt know he gave money to liberal causes, that makes me hate his soul a little less. anybody notice the new line thing mega complomerate time warner taking over to "cut costs" you know what that means...la­yofffs to get time warners stock up a percent or two. don't you love capitalism?