October 23, 2006 Observer Newsletter: The Marine, UFC 64

It was a week of important numbers in wrestling and MMA, and the end result of some of the numbers and reactions would be surprising. With the exception of Smackdown and Ultimate Fighter, every major show last week featured something big, whether it be women stripping, an old-fashioned grudge match, or a multi-brand show. But of all the numbers, don’t kid yourself, the most important is:

$7,138,774 – That’s the first week gross for John Cena’s movie vehicle, “The Marine.” Hollywood projections going into the weekend ranged from $6.4 million to $8 million, so this finished right in the middle. It was No. 6 for the weekend. On the surface, the number sounds bad. It’s more then the “See No Evil” first weekend ($4,581,233), but it also played in 2,545 theaters as compared to 1,270 for “See No Evil,” so the average per screen of $2,805 was less than “See No Evil’s” $3,644. The key is next weekend. “See No Evil” had more legs than most predicted, and ended up doing 3.3 times its first weekend.

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