Resurgent ‘Chronicles of Narnia’ beats out the newer ‘King Kong’

The end of the year played out with a resurgent “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” taking in $32.8 million on its fourth weekend to conquer “King Kong,” which grossed an estimated $31.6 million over the four-day New Year’s weekend.

It does not come as news that Hollywood closed the year with box office down on the order of 5% and attendance off by about 7%, according to tracking service Exhibitor Relations Co. (See related story, E1). But the box office drop of nearly $400 million, to $8.8 billion, is one of the biggest decreases on record, according to rival tracking firm Nielsen EDI. Exhibitor Relations calculates the drop in revenue is even bigger, from $9.4 billion to $8.9 billion.

Disney’s bid to establish a bankable family movie franchise on the order of the “Harry Potter” series appears to have succeeded, as business for “The Chronicles of Narnia” increased enough to beat the newer “Kong,” which opened to much weaker numbers than anticipated.

“King Kong” surpassed “Narnia” over the four-day Christmas weekend with a Sunday-Monday boost, but the Disney movie directed by “Shrek” veteran Andrew Adamson outperformed Peter Jackson’s extravaganza on every day since then.

With “Narnia” business up about 3.5% compared with the four-day Christmas weekend in the same 3,853 theaters, Disney president of distribution Chuck Viane said, “This has been an exceptional holiday for us. Very seldom do we see a movie with this kind of legs.”

Total domestic gross for “Narnia” is about $224.8 million, and foreign stands at about $225.5 million as of Monday, giving the movie a worldwide total of about $450.3 million, according to executives at Disney.

“Kong,” meanwhile, has domestic and foreign totals of about $174.3 million and $222.5 million (as of Sunday because Monday foreign numbers were not available), giving it a worldwide figure of $396.8 million, Universal reported.

Universal’s other big holiday release, Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” grossed $6.1 million over the four-day weekend in 532 theaters, giving it an average of $11,466 per location and $15.6 million for its first 11 days of relatively limited release.

Woody Allen’s “Match Point,” the director’s best-reviewed film in awhile, had a solid debut in just eight theaters. The movie has grossed about $720,000 since Wednesday, giving it a six-day average of $90,000 per theater, DreamWorks distribution executive Don Harris said Monday.

The movie, about the entanglements of an upper-crust British family with less well-off newcomers, increased its average each day since it opened Wednesday, Harris said, except in a key New York City location that shut down for New Year’s Eve. “These are numbers Allen hasn’t seen for a while,” Harris said. DreamWorks will be adding theaters in L.A. and New York and opening in eight additional markets Friday.

Among other noteworthy limited releases, on its fourth weekend Ang Lee’s “Brokeback Mountain” grossed $4.7 million, bringing its total to roughly $15 million. Jack Foley, head of distribution for Focus Features, said the company will add a couple hundred theaters and 70 markets Friday.

As is usually the case, the last few weeks of the year were dominated by blockbusters, beginning with Disney’s “Chicken Little,” followed by “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire,” “The Chronicles of Narnia” and then “King Kong.” For the year, Warner Bros. was the No. 1 studio in total box office -- and three movies with more than $200 million apiece in the domestic till. Fox was No. 2, although Fox released the top picture, “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith,” which drew $380.3 million.

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Box Office

Preliminary results (in millions) based on studio projections.

*--* Movie 4-day gross Total The Chronicles of Narnia $32.8 $224.8

King Kong 31.6 174.3

Fun with Dick and Jane 21 64.6

Cheaper by the Dozen 2 19.3 55.1

Rumor Has It 11.6 26.7

The Family Stone 10.2 46.2

Memoirs of a Geisha 10 30.4

The Ringer 8 21.6

Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire 7.5 277

Munich 6.1 15.6

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Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

Los Angeles Times