Banderas Hits Chord In 'Mexico'
"Once Upon a Time in Mexico," starring Antonio Banderas and Johnny Depp, took top honors this weekend, earning $24 million. "Matchstick Men" starring Nicolas Cage and Sam Rockwell, earned $13.3 million and "Cabin Fever" scared its way to $8.5 million.
"Once Upon a Time in Mexico," starring Antonio Banderas as a mariachi-musician gunslinger and Depp as a sleazy CIA agent, is the third in a low-key series from director Robert Rodriguez, who also did the "Spy Kids" films. However, it does have a built-in audience, including the Latin audience, and young males. Over the years, a lot of people have seen the other two films in the series: "El Mariachi" and "Desperado," and they were primed to see this one.
It also had Johnny Depp sharing the lead. Depp has been getting a lot of buzz after the summertime hit, "Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl," which is the second-biggest hit of the summer.
"Pirates," still performing strongly in its 10th week of release, came in at No. 5 with $4.6 million. So far, it has earned $288 million, making it the second highest-grossing movie of the year, behind "Finding Nemo."
Depp has made another transformation: oddball actor to box-office moneymaker. The star known for playing eccentrics in cult favorites such as "Ed Wood" and "Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas" is establishing himself as a major box office draw with two films this weekend in the top five.
Cagle notes, he is a popular actor who knows how to pick projects. "He brought humor to this sleazy CIA agent in "Once Upon A Time In Mexico."
Depp has had blockbusters before, such as "Sleepy Hollow" (1999) and "Chocolat" (2000), and modest hits like "Edward Scissorhands" (1990) and "Donnie Brasco" (1997), but they have been few and far between the respected but little-seen cult films like "Dead Man," "Ed Wood," "Benny & Joon" and "Fear and Loathing."
The first weekend's ticket sales for "Once Upon a Time in Mexico" nearly matched the total $25.4 million theatrical gross for 1995's "Desperado," which starred Banderas but not Depp.
The Nicolas Cage caper "Matchstick Men," about a con man and his daughter, opened in second place with $13.3 million, a modest debut consistent with some of Cage's recent underperforming films such as "Windtalkers" and "Captain Corelli's Mandolin."
Cagle says, "I thought it would do better because it's a great movie but Nicolas Cage is in a career slump." Cagle says he hopes people will discover the film through word of mouth. "Cage could get an Oscar nomination. He's very good as a con man," he says.
The cheaply made trapped-in-the-woods horror film "Cabin Fever" opened in third place with $8.5 million.
"It's a great weekend for horror and it's been a good season for horror," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, citing the success of such recent slash-monster films as "Jeepers Creepers 2" and "Freddy vs. Jason."
Ticket sales overall bounced back from last weekend's dismal earnings of $50.5 million, the lowest box-office weekend in two years with "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star" at No. 1. This weekend, "Dickie Roberts" fell to fourth place with $5 million.
The top 12 movies grossed $73.5 million, up 45 percent from last week and about 1 percent from last year, when "Barbershop" and "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" topped the box office.
In only 23 theaters, the Bill Murray vehicle "Lost In Translation" debuted with $901,143, an outstanding per-screen average of $39,180, which suggests packed theaters. The film opens in 125 theaters next weekend.
Cagle says, "Lost In Translation" was released at just the right time. It got all this great buzz at the Toronto Film Festival, and the critics and the rest of the media were over the moon about the movie-performance of Bill Murray's career. Murray plays an aging movie star who meets a young woman played Scarlett Johansson when they're both stranded and lonely at a Tokyo hotel. Cagle says, right now it's doing well because of the great press.
The following are the numbers according to Hollywood.com:
- "Once Upon a Time in Mexico," $24 million
- "Matchstick Men," $13.3 million
- "Cabin Fever," $8.5 million
- "Dickie Roberts: Former Child Star," $5 million
- "Pirates of the Caribbean," $4.6 million
- "Freaky Friday," $4.1 million
- "Jeepers Creepers 2," $3 million
- "Open Range," $2.809 million
- "S.W.A.T.", $2.800 million
- "Seabiscuit," $2.7 million