Fair-Weather Movie Fans Freeze Out Jim Carrey, Will Smith?

Carrey's Yes Man, Smith's Seven Pounds open with thuds at weekend box office

The weather did it.

That was the spin from Hollywood as one high-profile film (see Jim Carrey's Yes Man) after another (see Will Smith's Seven Pounds) landed with a thud at the weekend box office.

"I'm of the philosopy any real moviegoer would walk through a blizzard to see the movie they wanted to see," Exhibitor Relations' Jeff Bock said today.

Certainly, the weather, which was nasty, especially in the East, didn't detour the art-house crowd from The Wrestler, Gran Torino, Doubt and Frost/Nixon, all of which did well in limited release.

Of course, maybe conditions were more brutal at multiplexes showing Yes Man. The grosses sure were.

On paper, yes, Yes Man finished No. 1 in the weekend standings. But the comedy's estimated $18.2 million Friday-Sunday gross was down 40 percent from the take of last weekend's No. 1 film, The Day the Earth Stood Still, and down 60 percent from the take of the same weekend's No. 1 film from last year, National Treasure: Book of Secrets.

For Carrey, Bock said, Yes Man was "a return to form that just did not pan out—this opened worse than The Cable Guy [$19.8 million debut in 1996]."

Yes Man came up short when judged against nearly any classic Carrey comedy, from Bruce Almighty ($68 million) to Yes Man's spiritual forerunner, Liar Liar ($31.4 million).

For Smith, the most reliable of box-office draws, Seven Pounds, Bock predicted, will be the star's first movie since 2001's Ali to fail to gross at least $100 million overall.

The drama, from the same director of Smith's The Pursuit of Happyness, debuted with $16 million, down about $10 million from Happyness' opening on nearly the same weekend in December 2006.   

Other numbers and stats from the weekend box office:

• Weeks of advance, awards-show press worked for Mickey Rourke's The Wrestler, which bowed with $209,474 at four theaters. Its per-screen average ($52,369) put to shame Yes Man's ($5,288).
• In their second weekends, Gran Torino ($468,000 from 19 theaters) and Doubt ($729,000 from 39 theaters) remained hot.
• In its third weekend, Frost/Nixon ($364,845 at 39 theaters) managed to nearly hit $1.5 million overall.   
• The Tale of Despereaux opened at 2,758 theaters, which is about the most impressive thing that can be said of an animated film that bowed with an underwhelming $10.5 million.
• The Day the Earth Stood Still ($10.2 million) has no legs. Ticket sales plunged 67 percent from last weekend to this.
• Four Christmases ($7.7 million) hit $100 million overall.
• Slumdog Millionaire ($3.2 million) added more theaters, picked up more awards and finally cracked the Top 10.
• Milk ($1.6 million) fell out of the Top 10, but passed $10 million overall.
• Judith Miller and Valerie Plame need not fear publicity being stirred up by Nothing But the Truth—the Kate Beckinsale film, inspired by, but not based on the Miller-Plame CIA-leak imbroglio, only took in $3,500 at two theaters.

Here's a recap of the top-grossing weekend films based on Friday-Sunday estimates compiled by Exhibitor Relations:

1. Yes Man, $18.2 million
2. Seven Pounds, $16 million
3. The Tale of Despereaux, $10.5 million
4. The Day the Earth Stood Still, $10.2 million
5. Four Christmases, $7.7 million
6. Twilight, $5.2 million
7. Bolt, $4.3 million
8. Slumdog Millionaire, $3.2 million
9. Australia, $2.3 million
10. Quantum of Solace, $2,2 milliion