Dogs rule: 'Beverly Hills Chihuahua' No. 1 again
BOX OFFICE
The pups and the horror film 'Quarantine' beat out 'Body of Lies,' a buzzed-about film starring Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio.
Tiny dogs crushed the considerable box-office prowess of Russell Crowe and Leonardo DiCaprio to make "Beverly Hills Chihuahua" the first film since August to take the No. 1. spot two weeks in a row.
"Repeating as No. 1 in this business is really, really difficult," said Chuck Viane, the president of distribution for Disney. "Going into this weekend, I don't think anyone would have handicapped us as the picture that would have won the weekend."
Indeed, most of the buzz surrounded "Body of Lies," a film about espionage during the current Iraq war that stars Crowe and DiCaprio, and "The Express," a biopic about the first black football player to win the Heisman Trophy.
Both performed below expectations. Instead, "Chihuahua" took in an estimated $17.5 million, followed by "Quarantine," a Sony Screen Gems horror film that cost about $12 million to make and beat most predictions by a long shot to earn an estimated $14.2 million.
"Any time you can recoup your entire production budget in such a short amount of time, it puts you in a happy place," said Rory Bruer, Sony's president for distribution.
"Body of Lies" earned an estimated $13.1 million, making it the third-highest-grossing film. "The Express" came in sixth with $4.7 million.
"Chihuahua" was down 40% from last weekend, but it maintained a strong-enough showing to win the weekend.
"People do love talking dogs," said Brandon Gray, president of Box Office Mojo. "That's kind of a perennial audience favorite, like comedians in fat suits. The audience loves them."
Overall, the box office performed a little better than last year. The total estimate as of early Sunday was around $105 million, nearly 6% higher than for the same weekend last year. Total ticket sales, however, were about the same, meaning that the rise in gross is mostly due to increased ticket prices.
"This is the third up weekend in a row," said Paul Dergarabedian, the president of Media by Numbers. "That's big news since we had almost two months of downtrending box office before this."
