Theron's Oscar can't get audiences interested

The early estimates are in and after weeks of big box office numbers, it looks like audiences have stopped to take a break before Aslan breathes life into ticket sales next weekend.

'Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire' has made a massive amount of money. Unfortunately, the film made almost all of it opening weekend. Since then, it's seen successively bigger and bigger drops in audience attendance. In week two it lost 47%, this weekend it recorded a rather surprising 62% plummet in ticket sales. By way of comparison, 'Chicken Little' (a movie with bad reviews and less built in audience) recorded only a 21% drop its second week and 53% in its third.

Because 'Goblet of Fire' opened so big, and because the week to week competition has been so tepid, it's held on to the number one spot for three weeks now. Expect Harry Potter's magic to run out next weekend with the release of 'The Chronicles of Narnia'.

The week's only new, wide release was the Charlize Theron action flick 'Aeon Flux'. Adapted from the MTV Liquid Television cartoon of the same name, the movie features Theron as an assassin in a utopian future run by an oppressive government. Theron's past Oscar win did little to propel audiences into seeing her kick butt. 'Aeon Flux' placed in the weekend box office's number two spot, with a rather dismal $13.1 million debut. That almost guarantees the movie will be a total flop for Paramount. It cost them $62 million to produce, and even with international box office receipts thrown into the mix there's little chance this film will gross that much money before it slips unseen from theaters.

If you're looking for the real winners this weekend, glance outside the top ten to limited releases like 'Syriana'. The George Clooney has been playing two weeks in extremely limited release and this weekend grossed $490,000 in only three theaters. That gives it the weekend's highest per-screen average of $54,000. 'Syriana' opens wide around the United States on December 9.

Brand new limited releases didn't do as well. 'Transamerica' showed up in two theaters and made $45,900. Not a bad total, but the film's a tough sell, despite accolades for Felicity Huffman's performance as a person looking for a way to retool his or her gender. The snowboarding documentary 'First Descent' opened a bit wider in 243 theaters, but fell down the mountain with a miserable $1,740 per screen average. Send it back to the ski lodge, it's done.

Next weekend, church groups have an appointment with the Jesus-lion Aslan and Oscar contenders arrive in force to fill up New York's arthouses.

Here's a more detailed look at the early estimates for this weekend's top ten earners here in the United States:

Weekend Box Office Top Ten
Dcember 2 – December 4, 2005

1. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire - $20,450,000 ($229,839,000)
2. Aeon Flux - $13,100,000 *
3. Walk the Line - $10,000,000 ($68,766,000)
4. Yours, Mine, and Ours - $8,400,000 ($34,565,000)
5. Just Friends - $5,600,000 ($21,108,000)
6. Pride and Prejudice - $4,624,000 ($22,633,000)
7. Rent - $4,600,000 ($23,902,000)
8. Chicken Little - $4,513,000 ($124,224,000)
9. Derailed - $2,417,000 ($32,829,000)
10. In the Mix - $1,900,000 ($8,657,000)

* Denotes new release.

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