Cage's Next Doesn't Have Ghost of a Chance
No flaming skull, no dice.
Nicolas Cage, who heated up with Ghost Rider, went cold again with Next. Facing weak competition, the action-thriller grossed a meek $7.1 million at the weekend box office, according to final studio tallies compiled by Exhibitor Relations.
With Next not much of a factor—it bowed in third place—and the ghostly The Invisible (second place, $7.7 million) not on enough screens to do more damage, Disturbia claimed its third straight box-office win, with a solid, if unspectacular $9 million. Overall, the Shia LaBeouf thriller has taken in $52.1 million.
Next's performance marked the third time in the last two years a Cage movie has failed to hit at least $10 million in its first weekend. Of his recent films, only Ghost Rider, which scored $45.4 million in February, and World Trade Center, which managed $18.7 million last summer, have reminded that Cage can be a top-draw draw.
Ghost Rider, the third-biggest hit of Cage's career, seemed to connect with audiences who like to see motorcycles, a flaming skull and Eva Mendes' tight-fitting blouse collection. By comparison, Next, in which Cage plays a psychic enlisted to help thwart a terror plot, promised a worried-looking Jessica Biel, an even more worried-looking Julianne Moore and absolutely no flaming skulls.
Elsewhere, wrestler Steve Austin looked stone cold with his new action flick, The Condemned (ninth place, $3.8 million), while Jamie Kennedy's latest experiment, Kickin' It Old Skool (12th place, $2.5 million), fizzled.
Zoo, a documentary about a man who had a fatal attraction to a horse, was the buzz of the art-house circuit, grossing $8,500 on one screen.
Among the major releases, the comedy Hot Fuzz led the way with $3,834 as it slipped in the weekend standings to sixth place, with $4.9 million ($12.6 million overall). The Invisible was tops among newcomers with $3,822 per site.
All told, the top 12 films grossed $62.1 million, down 15 percent from last weekend a whopping 31 percent from the same week in 2006, when the Robin Williams-powered RV was riding high.
As for Disturbia, it joined Stomp the Yard and Ghost Rider as the only 2007 movies to score three straight weekend wins. Conventional wisdom says the movie doesn't have a chance to pull out a fourth straight win.
That's because conventional wisdom is well aware Spider-Man 3 opens next Friday.
Here's a rundown of the top 10 weekend based on official studio figures released Monday:
1. Disturbia, $9 million
2. The Invisible, $7.7 million
3. Next, $7.1 million
4. Fracture, $6.8 million
5. Blades of Glory, $5.2 million
6. Hot Fuzz, $4.9 million
7. Meet the Robinsons, $4.8 million
8. Vacancy, $4.1 million
9. The Condemned, $3.8 million
10. Are We Done Yet?, $3.5 million
(Originally published Apr. 29, 2007 at 2:04 p.m. PT.)
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