..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
Child's Play
Eddie Murphy had to have a Sony disposition as his family comedy Daddy Day Care bowed to an estimated $27.2 million - almost as much as the entire box office of his last movie I Spy. However, as expected, X2: X-Men United held sway with $39.7 million. There was also good news regionally as Alliance's Quebecois family drama-comedy Les Invasion barbares entered the marketplace with close to $900,000 from 88 theaters.
Still, there were some evident weeds in this year's Mother's Day bouquet. Overall weekend business should bring in about $110 million for a not too shabby 15% drop in ticket sales from last weekend but a disquieting 29% erosion from 2002 when the sophomore session of Spider-Man was resilient and the top debut was Unfaithful's $14 million gross.
What's chiefly disturbing (and one hopes not inevitable) is the 54% decline in X2 business. In this era of behemoth openings with 8,000 prints, we've become accustomed to 50% plus second weekend declines. Every tank town in North America opens with the major centers and the sizzle of a franchise title burns bright … and briefly. It was considered something of a miracle that Spider-Man fell off just 40% after its potent debut and the X-Men sequel was expected to hold better than it did because of strong reviews and excellent word-of-mouth.
Of course, there's no reason to consign the superhero opus to the scrap heap. Though it's likely to take another major hit with next week's launch of The Matrix Reloaded, it could still hang in for the long run and generate more than $250 million domestically. The problem may be that too many films are chasing the same segment of the marketplace on their respective roads to success and that's cannibalizing each film's commercial potential. There also appears to be an oblivious recognition that the marketplace is finite - albeit elastic - and cannot grow beyond the constraints of population.
Daddy Day Care pursued an even younger crowd than X2 and largely succeeded in roping in the youngest sector of the movie crowd and their compliant parents. Murphy - once hailed for his scatological and irreverent brand of humor - has found a cozy niche as, at best, a PG-rated comic. However, again the film underlines the limitations of targeting one sector of the audience with Lizzie McGuire taking a 54% tumble and Holes holding reasonable well on a comparative basis with a 34% drop.
Warner Bros. is attempting to reign in out-sized expectations for its new Matrix while it frets about the fate of its remake of The In-Laws. It had very good response to the latter film in national sneaks Saturday but attracted, according to a studio spokesman, an audience that skewed toward 35-year-old plus. Widening its appeal will be topic one in marketing and distribution meetings this week.
Fox decided to take the unusual step of bowing its romantic comedy Down with Love on a single Manhattan screen a week in advance of its national debut and grossed almost $45,000. The company decided not to snag the national press and avoid dueling for ink with Matrix Reloaded.
The best seasonal news continues in the niches. However, that area has consistently drawn just 5% of the audience, so a bump to 7% or 8% is radical. The faux documentary A Mighty Wind expanded to 765 theaters and a heartening $3 million weekend. Also expanding well is Bend It Like Beckham which has generated more than $13 million from fewer than 600 playdates. Beckham's distrib, Fox Searchlight, also had very good results for its second weekend expansion of The Dancer Upstairs.
As noted earlier, the Quebecois Les Invasions barbare was a strong regional debut and reflects a trend toward old-fashioned melodramas in that area of Canada. None of the other specialized launches demonstrated the $10,000 per screen force of that film. However, the French import The Man on the Train rang up a strong $36,000 from five screens.
Among the other freshmen, Focus's The Shape of Things had an OK $160,000 opener at 40 sites and Mac Releasing's Hispanic-themed Washington Heights was just fair with a $61,000 gross at 27 venues. Lost in the shuffle was Miramax's Motown documentary Only the Strong Survive with $13,300 in 10 outings. Though it received excellent reviews, it was hurt by the recent success of the similarly situated Standing in the Shadow of Motown.
Weekend Estimates - May 9-11, 2003
Title X2: X-Men United 40,032,160 -53% 3749 147,677,021 Daddy Day Care 27,623,580 - 3370 27,623,580 Lizzie McGuire: The Movie 7,209,116 -58% 2825 26,528,935 Identity 6,477,585 -31% 2618 39,382,841 Anger Management 5,738,206 -32% 2819 123,182,238 Holes 4,858,857 -30% 2452 51,678,222 A Mighty Wind 3,004,214 191% 765 9,483,660 Malibu's Most Wanted 2,128,493 -47% 2008 31,747,540 Bend It Like Beckham 1,736,275 18% 555 13,170,142 Confidence 1,539,607 -39% 1188 11,051,671 Chicago 1,110,568 13% 761 166,514,604 Phone Booth 1,004,617 -31% 785 44,007,912 It Runs in the Family 959,093 -42% 1042 6,744,861 Bringing Down the House 737,930 -35% 778 128,659,231 Ghosts of the Abyss 622,705 -12% 93 7,482,709 Bulletproof Monk 605,502 -59% 944 22,635,096 What a Girl Wants 522,422 -55% 925 35,272,242 House of 1000 Corpses 506,959 -30% 525 11,570,671 Les Invasions barbares 461,363 - 134 461,363 Agent Cody Banks 392,876 -6% 1224 47,285,499 Nowhere in Africa 276,171 -15% 65 3,405,032 The Dancer Upstairs 270,094 154% 62 420,241 Better Luck Tomorrow 266,541 -47% 377 3,509,262 The Good Thief 252,604 -33% 187 2,845,339 Daredevil 245,743 -36% 151 101,536,334 A Man Apart 208,931 -39% 258 26,183,197 The Pianist 206,451 -33% 242 31,177,546 Chasing Papi 173,793 -56% 172 5,929,610 The Shape of Things 173,246 - 40 173,246 Head of State 165,202 -52% 256 37,167,396 Raising Victor Vargas 160,768 -24% 64 1,041,532 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 151,733 -19% 190 338,457,054 Laurel Canyon 142,682 -26% 96 3,116,261 Piglet's Big Movie 139,564 -48% 320 22,628,390 Space Station 134,480 2% 30 37,294,846 The Real Cancun 133,950 -78% 224 3,713,002 Shanghai Knights 131,278 -30% 190 60,156,220 The Quiet American 115,176 -19% 127 12,653,791 The Hunted 105,956 117% 205 34,103,521 Winged Migration 99,188 10% 9 328,595 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 96,008 -8% 123 104,181,360 Dreamcatcher 72,764 -43% 175 33,623,361 The Jungle Book 2 61,498 -40% 172 47,776,370 Washington Heights 61,332 - 27 61,332 The Man Without a Past 60,634 -32% 29 429,015 City of God 59,021 -29% 49 4,026,717 Kangaroo Jack 58,650 -24% 185 66,576,613 Bowling for Columbine 57,903 -22% 76 20,295,253 The Core 54,928 -66% 152 30,583,153 City of Ghosts 53,203 198% 16 120,651 About Schmidt 52,449 -32% 100 64,902,853 Old School 52,097 -23% 63 74,812,549 Russian Ark 45,992 -20% 24 2,169,432 Down with Love 45,029 - 1 45,029 Cowboy Bebop 42,600 35% 25 716,042 Adaptation 42,358 306% 88 22,350,662 Basic 41,668 -39% 68 26,599,248 The Man on the Train 41,138 - 5 41,138 The Hours 40,969 -58% 110 41,558,554 National Security 40,851 -15% 64 36,243,533 Rivers and Tides 40,042 68% 14 1,528,904 T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous 37,730 -5% 6 43,340,500 Blue Car 34,988 16% 9 79,311 The Recruit 33,883 -41% 64 52,784,696 Final Destination 2 32,699 -3% 53 46,855,851 Assassination Tango 32,630 -33% 27 773,611 Lawless Heart 27,792 -1% 16 189,762 People I Know 27,278 23% 8 102,978 Talk to Her 26,069 -30% 30 9,060,423 He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not 24,645 4% 20 879,586 Catch Me If You Can 22,250 -24% 46 164,594,848 Only the Strong Survive 22,035 - 12 22,035 Lilja 4-Ever 21,784 3% 6 134,710 Cradle 2 the Grave 20,992 -50% 63 34,604,054 Owning Mahowny 19,993 -40% 7 70,338 L'Auberge Espagnole 19,592 -38% 22 758,355 Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure 18,788 31% 10 14,574,906 Spider 18,163 -18% 23 1,362,724 Weekend Estimates - May 9-11, 2003
Title X2: X-Men United -54% 3748 147.3 Daddy Day Care - 3370 27.2 Lizzie McGuire -56% 2825 26.8 Identity -35% 2618 39.1 Anger Management -37% 2819 122.8 Holes -34% 2552 51.4 A Mighty Wind 194% 765 9.5 Malibu's Most Wanted