..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Weekend Finals
Hello American Pie, Bye Bye Ben & Jen ...
Universal took a big piece of the marketplace (38%) for the weekend with its third slice of Pie, American Wedding, wolfing down an estimated $33.9 million at the front of the line. Meanwhile, the incredibly vilified Gigli went under the limbo stick with a reported $3.8 million in its opening frame.
Audiences were in a decidedly a la mode mood, which is not surprising in light of the paucity of comedies currently on screen. Wedding's recipe of raunch and sentiment kept true to the series winning formula and paid off handsomely. In fact, very handsomely when you realize the studio negotiated salary boosts rather than back end profit participation for two sequels. Though much has been writ about it being the end of the franchise, expect serious bean counting in the coming weeks.
Universal also continued to gallop with Seabiscuit which flagged just 16% to rank fourth with $17.5 million. Even factoring in a boost of 430 theaters, it's the smallest drop for any wide release to date in 2003. Uni's still slightly behind Buena Vista for the summer market share crown but its valley neighbor has Freaky Friday and Open Range in the wings.
Friday was a non-freak day for Buena Vista as it passed $1 billion in domestic box office revenues for the year for the eighth time in the past 10 years. Propelled by Nemo, Pirates and Bringing Down the House, it was the earliest point in the year (Sony did it in July 2002) for the studio to hit that level.
Overall weekend business again slipped below comparable 2002 box office with a final tally estimated at $145 million. It's off by 9% from last weekend and 8% from a year ago when Signs unleashed a $60.1 million fury and Sony had an unexpected surprise with a $12.6 bow for The Master of Disguise.
Sony and Revolution Studios had a surprise of different type with its star driven romantic comedy Gigli. Entertainment writers and film reviews had a field day predicting its demise and reveling in its odious qualities. Early box office projections while modest, were double its weekend performance for the untried screen chemistry of Ben and Jen X. Still, in terms of disastrous star vehicles, it's tough to top The Adventures of Pluto Nash.
Specialized fare making bows all displayed upbeat grossing potential. The Venice-prized drama The Magdalene Sisters bowed in the U.S. (it's in its third weekend in Quebec) where Miramax's five screens generated slightly more than $80,000. Manhattan's black comic The Secret Lives of Dentists successfully extracted better than $100,000 from 13 runs and the lushly romantic And Now Ladies & Gentlemen made its swoon song with a lilting $47,000 from six screens. Miramax also continued to successfully expand Dirty Pretty Things but the bow of the non-fiction Scorched failed to ignite with a $500 screen average from 14 un-engagements.
Sophomore sessions of Spy Kids 3-D and Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life experienced respective drops of 39% and 50%; good for the former's bottom line, bad for the video arcade refugee. Bad Boys II pushed past $100 but as with virtually every major sequel in the summer movie going sweepstakes, won't quite hit the box office level anticipated or demonstrated from opening weekend grosses. The reflective seasonal piece might be dubbed: 2 Fast, Not Quite Furious.
Weekend Finals - August 1 - 3, 2003
Title Wks American Wedding - 3172 33,369,440 1 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over -42% 3364 68,505,515 2 Pirates of the Caribbean -19% 3390 209,531,292 4 Seabiscuit -15% 2421 49,223,245 2 Bad Boys II -42% 3022 111,346,063 3 Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life -48% 3222 42,599,015 2 Finding Nemo -12% 1777 320,020,760 10 Gigli - 2245 3,753,518 1 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -36% 2007 58,955,959 4 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines -41% 1910 142,853,468 5 Johnny English -40% 1771 23,476,830 3 Bend It Like Beckham 711% 1002 28,294,045 22 28 Days Later -29% 842 40,294,752 4 Legally Blonde 2 -48% 1414 85,260,859 5 Whale Rider 2% 473 11,300,552 9 Swimming Pool 9% 242 5,253,781 5 The Italian Job -33% 383 95,322,358 9 Bruce Almighty -16% 456 238,542,825 11 Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle -62% 522 94,527,728 6 How to Deal -77% 1122 13,759,162 3 The Matrix Reloaded 1% 139 277,084,749 12 Daddy Day Care 30% 319 101,386,192 13 The Hulk -21% 374 130,246,995 6 Dirty Pretty Things 261% 39 680,765 3 2 Fast 2 Furious -2% 319 125,380,175 9 Winged Migration -2% 154 6,041,794 16 La Grande Seduction -45% 77 3,462,081 4 Spellbound -13% 91 4,753,691 14 Northfork 36% 65 585,896 4 Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas -61% 294 25,692,461 5 Space Station -12% 20 41,813,250 68 Ghosts of the Abyss 17% 32 13,482,765 17 The Secret Lives of Dentists - 12 121,769 1 The Magdalene Sisters 221% 19 253,132 3 I Capture the Castle -21% 40 586,167 4 Capturing the Friedmans -25% 58 2,527,366 10 X2: X-Men United -13% 133 214,591,423 14 Dumb and Dumberer -20% 153 26,096,584 8 Lizzie McGuire: The Movie -25% 157 42,532,027 14 Rugrats Go Wild -27% 212 38,424,829 8 Holes -33% 132 67,205,583 16 T-Rex: Back to the Cretaceous 4% 10 45,200,095 250 Chicago -31% 135 170,449,649 31 Wrong Turn -24% 82 15,176,515 10 Lucia, Lucia -7% 53 170,900 2 Masked and Anonymous 93% 13 115,149 2 Anger Management -14% 88 135,481,410 16 The Holy Land 123% 14 178,694 4 Camp -2% 3 142,678 2 The Housekeeper -2% 24 245,540 4 And Now Ladies & Gentlemen - 6 49,176 1 Nowhere in Africa -21% 43 6,426,424 22 L'Auberge Espagnole -27% 37 3,582,933 20 Bringing Down the House -37% 43 132,619,132 22 Alex & Emma -46% 137 14,158,728 6 The Weather Underground 39% 5 179,593 9 The Man on the Train -31% 35 2,371,033 13 Owning Mahowny -24% 14 738,783 14 Darna Mana Hai -63% 26 132,348 2 Haunted Castle 7% 3 6,753,898 128 Identity -36% 54 52,021,266 15 Respiro -3% 19 893,509 11 Rivers and Tides 26% 12 1,961,920 57 Les Invasions barbares -36% 11 4,412,640 13 Buffalo Soldiers -36% 5 69,384 2 Mambo Italiano -47% 16 2,343,562 9 Shackleton's Antarctic Adventure 173% 8 15,058,218 130 Jet Lag -39% 18 491,525 8 The Legend of Suriothai -41% 15 356,265 7 Mondays in the Sun -23% 9 49,892 2 Weekend Estimates - August 1 - 3, 2003
Title American Wedding - 3172 33.9 Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over -39% 3364 69.3 Pirates of the Caribbean -20% 3390 209.5 Seabiscuit -16% 2421 49.1 Bad Boys II -44% 3022 110.8 Lara Croft: The Cradle of Life -50% 3222 42.2 Gigli - 2245 3.8 Finding Nemo -15% 1777 319.9 League of Extraordinary Gentlemen -40% 2007 58.7 Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines -42% 1910 142.8 Johnny English -36% 1771 23.6 Bend It Like Beckham 743% 1002 28.3 28 Days Later -25% 843 40.4 Legally Blonde 2 -47% 1414 85.3 Whale Rider -3% 466 11.2 Swimming Pool 11% 242<