..Gary
Dretzka
..Leonard
Klady
..Emanuel
Levy
..David
Poland
..Doug
Pratt
..Ray
Pride
Four Day Finals
The Biggest Chill … The Hottest Ticket
Shrek 2's business was ogre the top and The Day After Tomorrow definitely contributed to global cinematic warming. The result on the domestic front was not tornados, earthquakes or tsunamis but the biggest weekend box office tally of all time whether measured on a three, four or five day basis.
The four-day Memorial holiday weekend was poised to deliver an estimated $240 million bounty largely propelled by Shrek's second weekend and the dynamic debut of the eco-catastrophe movie. The two film's combined gross of $178 million represented roughly 74% of the long weekend's ticket sales.
Shrek 2 added $92.6 million to bring its 12-day domestic cume to $257.3 million that anticipates a $400 million plus performance level. The film, unlike Troy and Van Helsing, was expected to have a comparatively modest drop of between 30% and 35% and played out exactly as predicted.
The animated giant had been the anticipated weekend leader but with a much wider berth expected between it and The Day After Tomorrow. In addition to on screen buffeting by the elements, the ultimate disaster movie had experienced the cruel winds of critical cant. And even with an exceptional marketing campaign and plenty of media debate on its message, pundits predicted no better than $65 million for the holiday span. The reality was set many degrees higher at $85.6 million.
Overseas The Day After Tomorrow added $85 million in a record 100-country launch. It more than doubled a projected $39 million weekend for Troy and with the possible exception of Italy was top rated in major markets. Anecdotally, the chilly yarn blew into Britain with $12 million, iced $8 million in Germany, $5.6 in Spain, $5.3 in Mexico and $4.8 million in Australia. It did not debut in either Japan or Korea and the addition of those territories would have likely pushed its international gross to $100 million.
Weekend business climbed about 11% from the immediate prior frame comparing 3-day box office and was up by approximately 20% from 2003's Memorial weekend.
The holiday also saw the arrival of two other national releases that bowed to fair to disappointing business. The serio-comic Raising Helen ranked a distant fourth with an opening salvo of $13.9 million. The Kate Hudson vehicle had the sort of mid-range force and exiting polling that held out the promise of comparatively modest weekly declines.
Far less elevated was the $7.1 million ascent of Soul Plane. The bawdy African-American comedy had a considerably lower flight path than anticipated. In the past few weeks the film has generated insider buzz as a result of a top quality bootleg DVD believed to have emanated from a lab. An investigation will try to assess the impact of pirating on the picture's performance. However, the results were no better for another new title with appeal to that audience. Mario Van Peeble's Baadasssss! Grossed just $54,000 from a limited release in 14 theaters.
The weekend also saw the bow of the Hindi-language Hum Tum - a contemporary romantic-comedy - to fair returns of $110,000 from 35 venues.
Results for debuting specialized fare were considerably more upbeat. The Dogme documentary The Five Obstructions scored an impressive $11,400 from a single Manhattan theater while the bio-portrait Bukowski: Born Into This was also potent with slightly more than $33,000 in its five initial engagements.
However, the weekend standout was clearly the teen religious satire Saved! The Sundance premiered indie resurrected $440,000 from just 20 playdates with generally upbeat reviews and strong audience response. MGM is initially targeting an upscale crowd and will roll out to younger audiences throughout the summer.
Title Shrek 2 95,578,365 -33% 4223 260,313,719 The Day After Tomorrow 85,807,341 3425 85,807,341 Troy 15,338,115 -50% 3411 109,986,882 Raising Helen 14,239,252 2717 14,239,252 Soul Plane 7,008,711 1566 7,008,711 Van Helsing 6,750,480 -50% 2891 110,728,815 Mean Girls 6,433,613 -27% 2618 73,710,506 Man on Fire 2,840,865 -39% 1430 73,722,956 13 Going on 30 1,451,872 -57% 1164 54,561,017 Super Size Me 1,401,509 11% 197 4,934,453 Breakin' All the Rules 1,068,195 -70% 890 10,984,460 Kill Bill Vol. 2 758,952 -47% 445 64,084,276 Walking Tall 546,991 -5% 666 45,860,039 Nascar: The Imax Experience 491,701 8% 63 12,302,234 Saved! 459,386 20 459,386 A Day Without a Mexican 434,940 -42% 104 2,042,724 New York Minute 415,093 -75% 605 13,486,603 Coffee and Cigarettes 362,532 34% 36 816,020 Laws of Attraction 361,762 -69% 394 17,584,452 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind 356,687 -21% 187 33,473,509 Envy 355,698 -54% 144 13,323,888 Hum Tum 348,149 43 348,149 Hidalgo 328,063 82% 317 66,354,349 Starsky & Hutch 246,233 153% 337 87,588,491 50 First Dates 228,450 -23% 222 120,196,997 The Passion of the Christ 226,007 -40% 576 369,727,030 Bon Voyage 223,215 -11% 91 1,851,112 The Prince & Me 207,938 167% 231 27,818,844 Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter, Spring … 207,832 16% 60 1,368,567 Bugs! 199,593 21% 27 8,713,610 Ella Enchanted 194,773 -19% 210 22,109,922 Johnson Family Vacation 189,246 -50% 196 30,344,547 Good Bye, Lenin! 134,927 -6% 72 3,655,248 I'm Not Scared 132,765 -15% 58 1,188,540 Love Me If You Dare/Jeux d'enfants 129,424 256% 44 190,775 Adrenaline Rush: The Science of Risk 116,577 15 6,309,375 Home on the Range 116,447 -48% 205 48,795,707 Space Station 94,831 2% 17 50,714,629 The Life of Brian (reissue) 90,802 -5% 28 349,436 Godsend 90,727 -77% 130 14,238,773 The Ladykillers 89,666 -43% 105 39,121,579 The Saddest Music in the World 88,598 -22% 25 469,489 Cold Mountain 87,966 139 95,463,763 Strayed 85,301 1% 21 203,454 Dawn of the Dead 81,830 -39% 98 58,885,635 The Mother 79,560 7 79,560 Monsieur Ibrahim 75,443 -14% 58 2,704,909 My Architect 66,438 47% 41 2,728,845 Scooby-Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed 65,823 -67% 153 82,247,130 What the #$*! Do We Know 61,033 10 61,033 Pulse: A Stomp Odyssey 60,485 -13% 11 6,621,517 Baadasssss! 60,432 14 60,432 The Punisher 58,273 -66% 84 33,382,101 Young Adam 57,571 -16% 30 558,742 Since Otar Left 54,578 11% 13 211,923 Monica la mitraille 52,149 -56% 47 1,329,227 Yuva 49,100 -81% 35 280,100 The Boston Red Sox Movie 49,002 -55% 45 353,939 Touching the Void 48,172 -18% 46 4,527,224 The Twilight Samurai 47,323 -3% 15 217,623 Connie and Carla 46,295 -47% 63 8,054,280 Asa Nu Maan Watan Da 45,179 -21% 5 202,135 Main Hoon Na 45,095 -59% 18 1,722,453 The Girl Next Door 44,437 -20% 48 14,507,466 Dogville 42,475 -31% 44 1,447,919 Secret Window 41,583 -49% 77 47,958,031 Valentin 39,949 -32% 13 141,327 Hellboy 36,547 -57% 55 59,103,901 Ghosts of the Abyss 36,119 -3% 11 16,111,977 Bukowski: Born Into This 35,685 5 35,685 Control Room 34,270 -9% 1 86,600 A Slipping-Down Life 31,490 31 51,715 Lord of the Rings: Return of the King 31,483 -65% 61 377,019,252 Carandiru 30,938 3% 9 92,704 Along Came Polly 28,522 -20% 36 88,073,507 The Alamo 24,480 -46% 49 22,153,767 Godzilla (1954) 23,596 -30% 5 215,513 Taking Lives 20,889 -70% 44 32,682,342 Barbershop 2: Back in Business 20,670 -90% 28 65,070,412 The Corporation 20,533 -41% 8 1,403,356 **percentage changes reflect comparative 3-day periods
Estimates - May 28-31, 2004
Title Shrek 2 -34% 4223 257.3 The Day After Tomorrow - 3425 85.6 Troy -50% 3411 109.5 Raising Helen - 2717 13.9 Soul Plane -