..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
May Tricks Forever
The anticipation of box office records shattering like candy glass simply did not occur. Still, The Matrix Reloaded charged up a staggering $92.2 million debut and close to 60% of the weekend ticket tally. Folding in Thursday box office and Wednesday previews, the film chalked up a not too shabby $134.7 million.
The picture could claim a record for the biggest opening of a sequel but industry consensus was that if Warner Bros. had been entertaining thoughts of re-writing b.o. history, it should have launched the highly touted second chapter on Friday. As things stand, the publicity machine that planted the notion of an unparalleled commercial wave flooding the nation are skulking back to the dark recesses of their spin factories.
The true test for The Matrix Reloaded will come seven days hence. Largely clobbered by the critics, it could well prove the old adage about “the bigger they are, the harder they fall.” The appreciably better received X2: X-Men United has experienced 50% plus drops since its debut and comparable or worse response for Matrix, Part 2 would only underline the new picture’s constricted appeal to a young male audience. It could well encounter stiffer than initially expected competition with next weekend’s bow of the Jim Carrey opus Bruce Almighty.
Weekend business of slightly more than $160 million resulted in a 45% uptick in movie going from a week earlier but remained 6% behind 2002’s level. A year ago, Star Wars, Episode 2 bowed with $80 million and Spider-Man’s third weekend scored with $45 million. As things stand, summer 2003 is in need of a clutch of box office surprises to surpass last year’s bounty.
The frame’s other debutant - Fox’s spoofish romantic comedy Down with Love - fell well short of becoming a counter-programming coup. It ranked fourth with an undistinguished $7.3 million. Truly the best of the holdovers was Daddy Day Care which retained second in the lineup with $18.6 million and a comparatively modest 33% erosion from its opening.
The seasonal landscape continues to reflect a nation that’s not taking out its purses and wallets as frequently. Again, we’ve yet to see those pictures that would spur a change of habit as summer has increasingly become a time of the predictable, pre-packaged very expensive programmer.
A veritable mixed bag of regional and specialized launches provided little more than a commercial hiccup in the shadow of The Matrix. Miramax dipped its toe into the waters with a 196 theater bow of Pokemon Heroes and retreated with approximately $220,000. The modest debut appeared to be no more than a herald for a quick video release.
Bollywood’s latest foray Armaan: The Desire also had a slow start with $132,000 from 40 screens. India, the second largest film industry in annual volume, has been rocked in recent years by video piracy that has eroded theatrical revenues by 25% to 30% and U.S. majors have tightened up print security and surveillance to curb a similar fate befalling its vaunted product.
Fox Searchlight’s first foreign-language release, the French multi-lingual L’Auberge Espagnole, was off to a solid start with an estimated $58,000 from 11 forays. The film, a contemporary coming-of-age saga, debuted in Quebec last month where it’s grossed an impressive $1 million from 23 prints.
Among the other exclusive debuts, the best result was for Lions Gate’s three screen bow of Ken Loach’s powerful working class drama Sweet Sixteen with a $22,000 gross. The Scottish-set film is going out, mercifully, with English sub-titles.
Weekend Finals - May 16-18, 2003
Title The Matrix Reloaded 91,774,413 3603 134,282,716 Daddy Day Care 18,880,185 3480 51,057,257 X2: X-Men United 17,301,287 3489 174,172,025 Down with Love 7,001,906 2124 7,066,077 Lizzie McGuire: The Movie 4,755,225 2658 32,314,438 Identity 3,662,843 2196 45,070,821 Anger Management 3,556,771 2476 128,278,321 Holes 3,160,190 2232 55,960,305 A Mighty Wind 1,692,463 770 12,097,256 Bend It Like Beckham 1,372,198 553 15,040,183 Malibu's Most Wanted 891,410 811 33,010,667 Chicago 572,963 520 167,440,667 Ghosts of the Abyss 506,612 84 8,449,598 Les Invasions barbares 358,940 134 1,214,381 Phone Booth 339,270 406 44,634,767 Confidence 319,508 365 11,877,085 Bringing Down the House 300,437 399 129,128,567 The Dancer Upstairs 279,816 93 802,717 Daredevil 277,041 214 101,896,158 Nowhere in Africa 270,647 85 3,769,995 Pokemon Heroes 260,372 196 260,372 Armaan: The Desire 225,684 50 225,684 It Runs in the Family 193,376 320 7,233,488 House of 1000 Corpses 179,031 255 11,971,795 Piglet's Big Movie 160,251 373 22,822,301 Winged Migration 139,896 13 503,660 Old School 138,475 173 74,971,323 The Shape of Things 135,004 60 384,365 Space Station 132,678 30 37,632,016 What a Girl Wants 130,702 260 35,488,686 Raising Victor Vargas 111,948 57 1,216,840 The Good Thief 105,849 120 3,039,421 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 101,515 163 338,622,570 The Pianist 95,003 141 31,360,603 Shanghai Knights 93,691 132 60,290,518 The Man on the Train 92,625 18 152,077 Laurel Canyon 92,133 55 3,269,755 Bulletproof Monk 90,636 236 22,921,726 Spellbound 82,444 13 157,393 L'Auberge Espagnole 71,935 27 846,634 Kangaroo Jack 70,687 130 66,662,931 Better Luck Tomorrow 69,307 161 3,687,324 Chasing Papi 69,133 66 6,052,563 Tears of the Sun 63,782 133 43,632,458 Head of State 59,977 116 37,265,448 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 59,807 83 104,279,850 A Man Apart 56,023 89 26,303,905 The Hunted 51,282 120 34,195,533 The Quiet American 50,401 55 12,744,265 Cradle 2 the Grave 44,917 34 34,657,731 Russian Ark 43,034 24 2,284,702 Agent Cody Banks 42,247 106 47,443,133 City of God 39,804 23 4,098,630 The Jungle Book 2 39,103 112 47,840,957 The Man Without a Past 37,682 14 492,570 The Real Cancun 37,454 71 3,816,594 Blue Car 36,944 12 132,531 About Schmidt 35,870 82 64,962,450 Cowboy Bebop 33,176 29 767,243 City of Ghosts 32,815 17 171,756 Dreamcatcher 32,634 105 33,685,268 T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous 32,445 6 43,405,670 National Security 32,372 50 36,288,951 Owning Mahowny 30,268 6 111,737 Final Destination 2 27,585 42 46,896,664 Bowling for Columbine 26,943 33 20,350,189 Sweet Sixteen 26,667 3 26,667 Deliver Us from Eva 26,191 15 17,573,594 He Loves Me, He Loves Me Not 25,852 23 914,205 Levity 23,031 13 136,352 The Core 21,407 120 30,625,303 Rivers and Tides 20,120 10 1,581,066 Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure 19,460 9 14,603,104 Adaptation 19,406 49 22,498,520 Lawless Heart 19,142 17 221,734 Assassination Tango 18,604 23 801,658
Top Global Grossers - January 1- May 15, 2003
Title Gross Lord of the Rings: Two Towers * 573,426,863 Chicago * 287,962,132 X2: X-Men United 284,550,788 Catch Me If You Can * 281,084,521 Harry Potter:Chamber of Secret 196,363,512 Daredevil 173,246,732 The Gangs of New York * 149,572,645 Two Weeks Notice * 144,830,043 How to L