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Oh, Canada!
Led by a trio of national debuts, the domestic box office soared to an estimated $115 million but the movie going scene continues to be propelled by volume rather than strength.
Leading the weekend charge was Buena Vista’s The Recruit, a lackluster yarn of dirty tricks involving a freshman and veteran CIA operative. The star power of Al Pacino and Colin Farrell pushed the picture to $16.3 million with New Line’s horror sequel Final Destination 2 close behind at $15.8 million.
Rounding out the group was DreamWorks’ Afro-American chopper tale Biker Boyz with $10.2 million.
Following a slight dip from last week’s competition from the Super Bowl, business rebounded with a 13% hike. And while new entries scored decent returns, holdovers showed remarkable stamina with the majority slipping by less than one-third despite declining screen counts.
Nonetheless with the announcement of Oscar nominations just nine days away, several prestige titles are holding on by their fingernails in hopes of a second wind at the box office. For films including Antwone Fisher, Adaptation and Narc it may already be too late, while the future of Far from Heaven - yet to go wide - rests on recognition in several major categories. And there’s absolutely no doubt that Miramax is betting the store its Chicago will garner a couple of fistfuls of mentions and continue the buzz that it is the Oscar favorite among Academy voters.
Other films seeking a plurality include Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers which just surpassed the domestic gross of the first installment, About Schmidt, The Pianist and The Hours. Of the quartet, the latter two movies are most in need of Oscar buzz. The jury’s decision on Pedro Almodovar’s Talk to Her is also being scrutinized and though it’s a very long shot for best picture, it could score for both direction and screenplay as compensation for its omission from the foreign-language category.
A couple of limited openers had encouraging debuts with Universal’s cross-cultural comedy The Guru entrancing roughly $630,000 from 62 venues and Halestorm’s feel good modern-day Jonah comedy The R.M. (an acronym for Returning Missionary) scoring $218,000 from 15 screens. Halestorm, a Utah-based indie, produces family films with a modicum of religiosity and last year had a theatrical success with The Single’s Ward grossing $1.25 million.
Also bowing from IFC was the acclaimed documentary Lost in La Mancha ) with slightly better than $60,000 on eight screens. Sony Classics’ Oscar short-listed Blind Spot: Hitler’s Secretary bowed in L.A. and combined with its New York exclusive had a $13,200 weekend.
Though the Motion Picture Association of America (via Jack Valenti) strenuously maintains its annual box office figures do not incorporate Canadian movie going, that’s just patently ridiculous. There’s simply no way to compensate for the close to $1 billion generated from our Northern neighbors -- even incorporating non-theatrical exhibition (the MPAA also insists that institutional revenues are not part of its figure).
The majors, and many of the independents, include Canada in their box office tallies and report that figure without adjusting for the dollar difference. So, in fact, 2002’s top grossing Spider-Man’s $407 million would be closer to $392 million in truth.
Even though the MPAA finally adjusted the manner in which it calculated average ticket prices in the past decade, there’s scant likelihood it will re-examine its box office reporting and factor out Canada or switch to a domestic number that includes a figure with an adjustment that factors in the difference in dollar value. It might, however, want to convert box office to Canadian dollar values and boost 2002’s domestic gross to $13.1 billion.
Weekend Finals: January 31 - February 2, 2003
Title The Recruit 16,302,063 - 2376 16,302,063 Final Destination 2 16,017,141 - 2834 16,017,141 Biker Boyz 10,106,992 - 1766 10,106,992 Kangaroo Jack 9,048,362 -22% 2848 45,886,113 Chicago 7,052,983 -14% 623 50,631,500 Darkness Falls 7,018,472 -42% 2865 21,802,315 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 5,088,421 -23% 2175 316,026,494 Catch Me If You Can 5,075,589 -22% 2316 152,158,678 Just Married 4,811,257 -26% 2408 49,730,339 About Schmidt 4,515,337 -16% 1236 44,193,308 National Security 4,313,606 -41% 2494 32,352,076 Confessions of a Dangerous Mind 4,300,162 -26% 1776 12,390,990 The Hours 3,102,202 -21% 548 18,521,270 The Gangs of New York 2,210,773 -20% 1485 68,764,382 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 1,538,527 -10% 1076 238,540,872 Two Weeks Notice 1,488,486 -38% 1311 91,095,193 A Guy Thing 1,291,326 -62% 1512 14,500,498 Antwone Fisher 1,176,745 -30% 679 18,900,043 Adaptation 1,136,767 -19% 528 15,877,024 The Pianist 1,111,985 -8% 320 7,435,092 25th Hour 988,206 -31% 453 11,249,496 The Lion King (Large Format) 826,014 9% 66 10,688,511 Narc 821,560 -38% 822 9,915,741 Maid in Manhattan 703,424 -55% 711 92,218,487 Die Another Day 615,001 -14% 895 159,488,587 The Guru 613,485 - 62 613,485 Harry Potter: Chamber of Secrets 507,218 -35% 502 259,626,842 Drumline 400,501 -41% 424 55,055,493 Talk to Her 346,322 -4% 82 4,301,491 Rabbit-Proof Fence 336,717 16% 144 3,434,931 The Wild Thornberrys 289,700 -48% 670 38,797,833 Treasure Planet 284,482 20% 367 37,851,428 City of God 252,608 48% 23 669,294 Far from Heaven 251,317 -19% 182 13,518,685 Frida 230,375 -5% 132 23,173,825 The Ring 207,028 18% 261 128,579,698 Bowling for Columbine 180,276 -11% 174 17,125,118 Space Station 140,611 -18% 43 31,770,537 The R.M. 130,352 - 15 130,352 8 Mile 123,370 -8% 169 116,304,760 The Hot Chick 119,611 -36% 153 34,045,286 Sweet Home Alabama 115,520 2% 137 127,033,919 Analyze That 113,223 152% 256 31,953,386 Nicholas Nickelby 110,394 -35% 83 1,204,079 Seraphin, un homme et son peche 89,186 -19% 55 6,112,127 Russian Ark 80,921 65% 12 511,434 Star Trek: Nemesis 72,841 -44% 350 42,816,189 The Quiet American 68,274 6% 8 728,066 The Crime of Padre Amaro 64,030 -28% 61 5,268,902 Lost in La Mancha 63,303 - 8 63,303 The Santa Clause 2 57,272 -39% 145 139,225,854 Shanghai Gesture 49,135 12 368,773 Max 48,731 -39% 39 330,300 Real Women Have Curves 42,805 -7% 63 5,735,299 Half Past Dead 41,232 -19% 63 15,488,890 Empire 36,583 -43% 43 17,565,143 They 32,768 -43% 58 12,840,842 Friday After Next 32,507 12% 51 32,917,327 Solaris 31,883 258% 26 14,942,785 Dil Ka Rishtaa 27,807 -47% 14 345,649 Dum 27,063 -42% 18 94,064 Charly 25,575 -41% 21 706,623 Manna from Heaven 24,715 -1% 7 189,518 Intacto 24,300 -4% 25 274,035 Tully 24,250 -9% 13 341,184 Standing in Shadow of Motown 23,367 -3% 38 1,515,658 Super Sucker 22,179 -75% 54 137,628 Secretary 21,895 -2% 18 4,020,250 Star Wars, Episode 1 21,364 -17% 8 310,453,581 Cirque du Soleil - Journey of Man 20,588 -15% 5 14,868,118 Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure 20,218 -2% 7 13,907,316 Weekend Estimates - January 31 - February 2, 2003
Title The Recruit 2376 16.3 Final Destination 2 2834 15.8 Biker Boyz 1766 10.2 Kangaroo Jack -22% 2848 45.9 Darkness Falls -39% 2865 22.1 Chicago -15% 623 50.6 Lord of the Rings: Two Towers -21% 2175 316.1 Catch Me If You Can -22% 2316 152 Just Married -25% 2408 49.8 About Schmidt -17% 1236 44.2 Dangerous Mind -27% 1776 12.4 National Security -41% 2494 32.4 The Hours -23% 548 18.4 The Gangs of New York -25% 1485 68.6 Two Weeks Notice -32% 1311 91.2 My Big Fat Greek Wedding -13% 1076 238.5 A Guy Thing -65% 1512 14.4 Adaptation -23% 528 15.8 The Pianist