Jan. 29, 2007
 
WE ARE MARSHALL: All Good Flicks Must Come to An End of Wide Release
 
By Tony Rutherford
Huntington News Network Writer
 
Huntington, WV (HNN) - Having lost 500 screens for the beginning of its sixth week in wide release, our "We Are Marshall" for the first time since its opening Dec. 22 failed to gross over a million dollars on a weekend. The tally will come in at around $830,000 on about 940 screens.
 
At its peak, "WAM" had over 2,600 screens nationwide.
 
The flick averaged a gross of about $882 per screen for the weekend, totaling $830,000, according to estimates released by Box Office Mojo.
 
"Marshall" dipped another five places (to 25th) from last week's #20 finish. Some of "WAM's" competitors which opened around Dec. 22 dipped below "Marshall" (finally!) such as "Rocky Balboa" taking in $592,000, and "The Good Shepherd" bring in a coin of $669,000.
 
By contrast, two of the film's strongest competitors --- "Night at the Museum" held in third place with another $9.45 million and "Pursuit of Happyness" garnered another $5 million. Warners big budget "Blood Diamond" enjoyed an Oscar boost of $2.1 million and the same studio's "The Departed" added 1,326 screens and another $3 million.
 
International release of "WAM" has not yet been determined; nor has the actual DVD release date.
 
Still, "WAM" stands at the tenth best grossing football film (with a good chance to take over the 9th spot), the 22nd grossing sports film, and the 8th best grossing 70s movie.
 
However, "top grossers" do not attest to the significance or quality of a picture. Many Oscar winners failed to attract sizeable audiences in theatres such as "It's a Wonderful Life," which became a classic after it became a Christmas teleivison favorite.
 
And, lots of those Oscar nominees still hope to reach the level of "WAM," such as "Letters from Iwo Jima," which so far has only grossed 3.2 million. "The Last King of Scotland" has only $6 million to its credit; "Babel" rests at $24.6 mil and "The Queen" at $37 million.
 
The average "gross" for a 2006 Best Picture nom is only $51 million buoyed by "The Departed" with $125 million. The Best Actor avarage is $43 million, Best Actress $37.5 million, Best supporting Actor $65.5 million, and Best Supporting Actress $41 million.
 
Aside from Foreign Language, documentaries and shorts, the category with the lowest box office output average is Best Cinematography whose nominees include "The Prestige," "The Illusionist," "Children of Men," "Black Dahilia," and "Pan's Labyrinth."
 
And, as for Sports films, all of the following --- considered more or less modern classics in the genre --- took in less box office bucks that "We Are Marshall:: The Champ, Hoosiers, Raging Bull, rudy, The Babe, Annapolis, Victory, Eight Men Out, Legend of Bagger Vance and Rocky V.