LAST HOLIDAY

The Last Holiday was financed by Paramount for $45 million and this remake of the 1950 film of the same name staring Alec Guinness, was originally designed to star John Candy before he passed and then turned into a Queen Latifah vehicle.  The Last Holiday was part of the final slate of films from former Paramount chairman Sherry Lansing, who left at the end of 2004.  The pic opened in the US in 2,514 theaters over the Martin Luther King, Jr. frame and pulled in a soft $12,806,188 — placing #2 behind Glory Road.  Last Holiday saw a modest 32% second frame decline to $8,711,606 and a 44.9% third weekend drop to $4,802,618.  The film closed its run with $38,399,961 but Paramount dumped the film overseas, where it pulled in an anemic $4.9 million and $2 million of that cume was from the UK.  Last Holiday’s worldwide total was $43.3 million, leaving Paramount with about $23.8 million after theaters take their cut of the gross, which would not cover all of the worldwide P&A costs or any of the budget.  The film sold well on home video, bringing in $30.4 million (less after resellers take their cut and manufacturing costs).