..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
No Joy In Mudville
The refrain of "Take Me Out to the Ball Game" echoes but it wasn't simply America's pastime that kept movie goers away from theaters. It was also barbeques and a sluggish economy that's rather consistently seen the season flagging behind the 2002 bounty.
The arrival of big gun sequels to The Terminator and Legally Blonde and a swashbuckling animated adventure were not enough to bolster attendance, and weekend figures sank 14% from last year's July 4th holiday frame. A year ago it was also sequel season with Men in Black II leading off with a $52 million and $87 million 5-day cume, or roughly 19% stronger than Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines.
However, T3, unlike MIB II, had incoming competition. So, charitably one could argue that it performed comparably. Warner Bros. is noting that the estimated $44 million plus 3-day gross is second only to The Matrix Reloaded for an R-rated debut.
Over at MGM, Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde bowed to $21.2 million (the studio has a decidedly more aggressive $22.9 million estimate) with a $38.1 million cume. Its spin is that the film has a 44% better opening that the first outing.
Despite considerable spinning, neither film bowed with quite the anticipated firepower tracking suggested. And when one tosses in last weekend's low ball debut of Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle (and a 63% drop in its second weekend) and the rapid descent of The Hulk, a shudder goes out through the industry that expectations for summer's remaining high profile movies may have to be lowered one or two notches.
What should be of utmost concern is that the season to date has yet to generate a truly unexpected success. While several films including Daddy Day Care and The Italian Job have fared better than expected and maintained theaters, neither is performing to a radically more potent degree like, say, the first Legally Blonde.
The holiday's third freshman - DreamWork's animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - emerged as another instant casualty with a $6.6 million weekend and a cume just shy of $10 million. It will hardly shiver the timbers of Wednesday's launch of Pirates of the Caribbean. Meanwhile, Disney/Pixar's Finding Nemo continues to push toward a $300 million domestic gross and this weekend passed The Matrix Reloaded as summer's top grosser but will be well shy of the $400 plus generated in 2002 by Spider-Man.
In the specialized arena, Focus generated truly dynamic numbers for its Cannes-preemed mystery Swimming Pool. The company was very effective in building a profile amid the hoopla accorded the high-powered competition and rang up roughly $300,000 from a mere 13 theaters.
Unlike the mainstream scenario, the summer has been rife with surprise for alternative fare, particularly non-fiction films including Spellbound, Winged Migration and Capturing the Friedmans. Foreign-language hits have included Man on the Train and L'Auberge Espagnole and, in Canada, they've had two homegrown successes with Mambo Italiano and The Invasion of the Barbarians.
Add to that group Whale Rider from New Zealand that's been doing a slow roll out, adding about 50 screens for the holiday and grossing $1.2 million. Unlike the still in release Bend It Like Beckham, Newmarket has a hard decision to make as to whether it should push for a radical expansion and risk being clobbered by the mainstream competition.
The one sector not being repped on the alternative side is American independents. While many have opened since May, most have quickly sputtered and fizzled and that has to be causing a great deal of concern for producers on the parallel track.
Weekend Finals - July 3 - 6, 2003
Title Weekend Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines 44,041,440 - 3504 72,387,461 Legally Blonde 2 22,220,670 - 3350 38,507,400 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle 14,010,022 -63% 3485 67,068,572 Finding Nemo 11,059,141 -21% 2902 274,936,974 The Hulk 8,227,520 -56% 3291 117,012,585 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas 6,874,477 - 3086 6,874,477 28 Days Later 6,007,796 -40% 1407 20,557,346 The Italian Job 4,172,641 -24% 1584 83,876,915 Bruce Almighty 4,012,320 -35% 1929 228,646,570 2 Fast 2 Furious 2,641,820 -58% 1779 119,437,965 The Matrix Reloaded 1,554,421 -40% 801 271,936,550 Rugrats Go Wild 1,478,598 -59% 2021 34,795,965 Whale Rider 1,242,123 27% 209 4,140,861 X2: X-Men United 1,143,724 23% 1100 213,097,408 Hollywood Homicide 716,324 -77% 685 29,207,423 Alex & Emma 663,486 -75% 1005 13,281,771 Daddy Day Care 583,587 -75% 532 99,376,464 Bend It Like Beckham 487,450 -14% 239 24,700,910 Winged Migration 439,461 26% 108 3,657,364 Dumb and Dumberer 351,078 -79% 610 25,190,179 Spellbound 334,626 1% 111 3,142,829 Main Prem Ki Diwani Hoon * 322,987 -52% 60 1,028,440 Holes 320,997 -24% 363 65,626,196 Swimming Pool 286,950 - 13 376,610 Capturing the Friedmans 257,718 2% 70 1,509,453 Ghosts of the Abyss 176,182 3% 47 12,441,340 Anger Management 165,792 -25% 161 134,784,985 L'Auberge Espagnole 163,995 -15% 83 3,087,141 The Man on the Train 155,670 11% 83 1,932,609 Nowhere in Africa 140,905 8% 70 5,894,846 Space Station 132,048 3% 22 40,154,028 Respiro 115,049 87% 34 682,383 Bringing Down the House 103,399 -26% 155 131,974,653 Together 101,534 -6% 53 990,599 Wrong Turn 95,104 -59% 138 14,317,804 Mambo Italiano 88,879 -22% 58 1,621,009 T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous 76,996 33% 9 44,428,544 A Mighty Wind 75,276 -28% 64 17,336,014 Jet Lag 72,159 -8% 21 259,001 Chicago 62,180 -3% 91 169,580,881 Down with Love 61,590 -27% 126 20,186,516 The In-Laws 60,626 6% 58 20,140,443 Phone Booth 60,495 -30% 116 46,446,686 The Hard Word 57,102 -25% 38 242,516 The Legend of Suriothai 51,952 52% 13 163,637 Owning Mahowny 51,569 -10% 15 447,699 Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers 50,890 -31% 55 339,554,276 Les Invasions barbares 50,019 -34% 39 4,111,692 How to Lose a Guy in 10 Days 48,772 -23% 65 105,765,605 Malibu's Most Wanted 44,045 -12% 55 34,308,901 Lizzie McGuire: The Movie 39,013 -43% 92 41,688,384 Raising Victor Vargas 34,403 66% 18 1,913,069 The Eye 31,867 -11% 22 339,607 Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure 27,430 0% 10 14,899,303 Russian Ark 25,838 -24% 13 2,671,197 Head of State 25,141 9% 42 38,071,856 From Justin to Kelley 23,745 -96% 108 4,877,351 The Heart of Me 22,541 44% 10 93,641 Haunted Castle 22,500 16% 3 6,512,032 Chalte Chalte 21,541 -66% 31 836,225 House of 1000 Corpses 21,335 -18% 32 12,620,318 On _ Line 20,014 -22% 5 57,240 A Man Apart 19,879 -15% 33 26,671,549 Man Without a Past 19,877 -15% 15 778,775 Rivers and Tides 19,732 -10% 11 1,832,795 The Dancer Upstairs 19,516 -34% 32 2,317,967 Identity 18,803 -48% 29 51,614,552 Journey of Man 18,770 65% 3 15,317,610 Weekend Estimates - July 3 - 6, 2003
Title Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines - 3504 72.9 Legally Blonde 2 - 3350 38.1 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle -63% 3485 66.8 Finding Nemo -22% 2902 274.8 The Hulk -58% 3291 116.7 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas - 3086 9.8 28 Days Later -45% 1407 20.1 The Italian Job -21% 1584 84.1 Bruce Almighty -32% 1929 228.6 2 Fast 2 Furious -63% 1779 119 The Matrix Reloaded -22% 801 272.2 Rugrats Go Wild -56% 2021 34.9 Whale Rider