The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe Tops Box Office in a Big Way!

Coming in from all over the web, we have box office numbers that are all saying one thing: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe has taken first place in the box office race, and taken it by storm.

Box Office Prophets
The C.S. Lewis adaptation opened to a stunning $23.4 million [on Friday]. What’s up for debate at the moment is how much of this figure may be attributed to religious groups and church viewings. Such groups haven’t been as excited for a movie like this since The Passion of the Christ. Comparing the two films, the Mel Gibson epic earned only $150,000 more on its first Friday than Narnia’s estimate. Box office behavior these days has seen a reduction in the size of internal multipliers, but the comparable religious film earned $83.8 million over the weekend with an internal multiplier of 3.56. If Narnia performs at that level, its opening would be $83.3 million. That’s a tad ambitious since the possibility exists that this title is more frontloaded. A hedged bet estimate is a 3.2 multiplier, indicating an opening weekend of $74.9 million. This would be a December opening record if it holds.

[Box Office Prophets]

ComingSoon.net
Although the books may not be as popular now than they were back in their heyday, the epic nature of C. S. Lewis’ fantasy and how it’s been brought to the big screen by Andrew Adamson should be enough to get kids and their parents into theatres, not to mention religious groups, and those who love big budget effects movies. It might have a hard time holding up against Peter Jackson’s King Kong, which opens six days after its opening, but in the end, it should be able to maintain its audience through the holidays.

Projection: $53 to 56 million on its way to around $250 million.
Estimates: $67,064,000

Walt Disney Pictures’ The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, The Witch and The Wardrobe exceeded expectations, opening to an impressive $67.1 million. Director Andrew Adamson’s adaptation of the C.S. Lewis novel marks the second-biggest opening ever for a film in December, surpassing The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ($62 million) and trailing only The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King ($72.6 million). It is also the 23rd best opening of all-time domestically and the third biggest debut of 2005 so far. The fantasy-adventure, budgeted at about $180 million, opened in 3,616 theaters and averaged $18,546 per location.

[Coming Soon]

Box Office Mojo
Opening Weekend: $67,064,000
(3,616 theaters, $18,546 average)
% of Total Gross: 100.0%
Widest Release: 3,616 theaters
In Release: 3 days / 0.4 weeks

[Box Office Mojo]

Hollywood Reporter
Critical list
Rotten Tomatoes tracks film reviews from across the country and averages the ratings on a 1 to 10 scale. Here are the results for “The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe.”

National average rating: 7/10
Major metro rating: 7.2/10
Tomatometer Rating: 76%

Ratings by region:
Midwest critics: 6.8/10
Northeast critics: 7.1/10
Southern critics: 7.1/10
Western critics: 7.5/10

Ticket tally
Fandango ranks the week’s top films based on percentage of total advance sales. Here is the top 5.

1. The Chronicles of Narnia: 81%
2. Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire: 5%
3. King Kong: 3%
4. Syriana: 1%
5. Brokeback Mountain: 1%

[Hollywood Reporter]

World of KJ
With a three day estimated total of $67,052,000, is also very close to the marker that shows that this film is a definite success.

[World of KJ]

The Official announcement of Prince Caspian shouldn’t be too far behind this weekend.