Bond, Harry Carve Up Holiday Turkeys
Reuters
Dec 2 2002 2:39AM
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - MGM's James Bond actioner "Die Another Day" was the biggest box office glutton over Thanksgiving's long holiday weekend, while Warner Bros.' latest "Harry Potter" fantasy proved a three-day wizard.
"Die" grossed an estimated $46.3 million over the five-day session, with "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" ringing up $45.8 million. But between Friday and Sunday, "Potter" took in $32.1 million, compared to the $31 million registered for the 007 picture.
Meanwhile, "Die" lived another frame in the box office spotlight largely because the session's five wide releases bowed weakly. And carving up their carcasses produces some interesting morsels:
- Disney tooner "Treasure Planet," a visually dense family fantasy costing more than $100 million to produce, proved the biggest turkey. "Planet" spun just $16.5 million in estimated box office since its Wednesday debut and finished fourth on the holiday-lengthened frame.
- Sony's much less expensive and older-skewing tooner "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights" opened with $15.1 million in fifth place. The tooners' close respective performances well demonstrate how tricky feature animation can be to predict.
- "Planet" failed to outperform even Mouse House's leggy live actioner "The Santa Clause 2." The Tim Allen starrer earned third place by grossing $17.2 million over the five days and climbing a remarkable 22% in a three-day comparison with the previous weekend.
And speaking of sturdy gams, IFC marathoner "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" finally fell from the top 10 -- in its 33rd weekend. The ethnic laffer grossed $5.5 million over five days to push its total to a mind-bending $210.7 million.
Industrywide, the holiday weekend's $150 million in estimated total grosses for Friday-through-Sunday represented a 68% uptick from the same frame a year ago. The big gain was largely because Thanksgiving fell a week sooner in 2001. This weekend was essentially flat when compared with last year's holiday weekend.
Year-to-date, 2002 is almost 13% ahead of the same period of last year with $8.21 billion in total grosses, according to data from box office tracker Nielsen EDI.
That puts '02 officially ahead of last year with four weeks still remaining in the current calendar. Last year, EDI counted a total $8.13 billion in box office.
"It's numbing how impressive the numbers have been this year," said EDI executive VP Dan Marks said. "We have a month to go, and we've already set a record."
New Line's "Friday After Next" finished sixth this weekend with $11 million over the holiday-lengthened frame and a 10-day haul of $25.6 million.
'EMPEROR' SLIDING
But Universal's campus drama "The Emperor's Club" fell from the top 10 in its second frame with $4.9 million over five days and a $9.4 million total.
Twentieth Century Fox's bowing George Clooney starrer "Solaris" placed seventh over the long weekend with $9.5 million.
Universal/Imagine's Eminem starrer "8 Mile" drove to eighth in its fourth weekend with $8.5 million.
The horror picture "Wes Craven Presents: They" from Miramax/Dimension -- a $4 million North American acquisition for the specialty distributor -- debuted in ninth place with $8 million.
And DreamWorks' leggy horror pic "The Ring" finished 10th with $7.8 million. The Naomi Watts starrer pushed its total to $120 million.
The Paramount opener "Extreme Ops" failed to crack the top 10, with the extreme sports actioner grossing just $3.1 million over five days.
The "Ops" story line has Balkan war criminals chasing a group of extreme skiing enthusiasts. But though pic's plot begs a comparison with Sony/Revolution's "XXX" hit of earlier this year, its box office results do not.
"We were very disappointed," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen allowed.
'SOLARIS' SAGGING
Fox distribution boss Bruce Snyder also acknowledged disappointment with the opening for the Steven Soderbergh-helmed "Solaris."
"The picture was very well reviewed, so I'm thinking maybe the holiday just wasn't the weekend for audiences to be challenged and they will still show up for the picture," Snyder offered.
"Solaris" skewed mostly older, so it doesn't appear the picture was helped much by Soderbergh's successful appeal to have an initial "R" rating changed to "PG13."
Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said the "Planet" opening was "softer than we expected (and) we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed" for better box office in coming weeks.
But Sony Pictures vice-chairman Jeff Blake expressed satisfaction with the bow for "Eight Crazy Nights," which was produced for an estimated $34 million.
"By animation standards, that's downright cheap," Blake said. "We'll make a profit on it."
MGM distribution president Erik Lomis said the Bond picture's repeat atop the box office heap shows "Day" is playing broadly.
"Marketing was great in getting it to open," Lomis said. "(But) it's a good movie, and people really like the film. I think it's Pierce Brosnan's best Bond film and (co-star) Halle Berry really adds to it."
'POTTER' ON TRACK
Warner Bros. distribution president Dan Fellman noted the "Potter" sequel reached $200 million in just 17 days. Last year's original reached $219 million in the same span, but recent strong grosses show the sequel is well on track to closely mimic original's boffo run, Fellman said.
12/02/02 02:38
The Santa Clause, i think will only make more money because of Christmas time. Treasure Planet's opening was bad becuase of Bond and Harry.
Reuters
Dec 2 2002 2:39AM
HOLLYWOOD (Variety) - MGM's James Bond actioner "Die Another Day" was the biggest box office glutton over Thanksgiving's long holiday weekend, while Warner Bros.' latest "Harry Potter" fantasy proved a three-day wizard.
"Die" grossed an estimated $46.3 million over the five-day session, with "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" ringing up $45.8 million. But between Friday and Sunday, "Potter" took in $32.1 million, compared to the $31 million registered for the 007 picture.
Meanwhile, "Die" lived another frame in the box office spotlight largely because the session's five wide releases bowed weakly. And carving up their carcasses produces some interesting morsels:
- Disney tooner "Treasure Planet," a visually dense family fantasy costing more than $100 million to produce, proved the biggest turkey. "Planet" spun just $16.5 million in estimated box office since its Wednesday debut and finished fourth on the holiday-lengthened frame.
- Sony's much less expensive and older-skewing tooner "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights" opened with $15.1 million in fifth place. The tooners' close respective performances well demonstrate how tricky feature animation can be to predict.
- "Planet" failed to outperform even Mouse House's leggy live actioner "The Santa Clause 2." The Tim Allen starrer earned third place by grossing $17.2 million over the five days and climbing a remarkable 22% in a three-day comparison with the previous weekend.
And speaking of sturdy gams, IFC marathoner "My Big Fat Greek Wedding" finally fell from the top 10 -- in its 33rd weekend. The ethnic laffer grossed $5.5 million over five days to push its total to a mind-bending $210.7 million.
Industrywide, the holiday weekend's $150 million in estimated total grosses for Friday-through-Sunday represented a 68% uptick from the same frame a year ago. The big gain was largely because Thanksgiving fell a week sooner in 2001. This weekend was essentially flat when compared with last year's holiday weekend.
Year-to-date, 2002 is almost 13% ahead of the same period of last year with $8.21 billion in total grosses, according to data from box office tracker Nielsen EDI.
That puts '02 officially ahead of last year with four weeks still remaining in the current calendar. Last year, EDI counted a total $8.13 billion in box office.
"It's numbing how impressive the numbers have been this year," said EDI executive VP Dan Marks said. "We have a month to go, and we've already set a record."
New Line's "Friday After Next" finished sixth this weekend with $11 million over the holiday-lengthened frame and a 10-day haul of $25.6 million.
'EMPEROR' SLIDING
But Universal's campus drama "The Emperor's Club" fell from the top 10 in its second frame with $4.9 million over five days and a $9.4 million total.
Twentieth Century Fox's bowing George Clooney starrer "Solaris" placed seventh over the long weekend with $9.5 million.
Universal/Imagine's Eminem starrer "8 Mile" drove to eighth in its fourth weekend with $8.5 million.
The horror picture "Wes Craven Presents: They" from Miramax/Dimension -- a $4 million North American acquisition for the specialty distributor -- debuted in ninth place with $8 million.
And DreamWorks' leggy horror pic "The Ring" finished 10th with $7.8 million. The Naomi Watts starrer pushed its total to $120 million.
The Paramount opener "Extreme Ops" failed to crack the top 10, with the extreme sports actioner grossing just $3.1 million over five days.
The "Ops" story line has Balkan war criminals chasing a group of extreme skiing enthusiasts. But though pic's plot begs a comparison with Sony/Revolution's "XXX" hit of earlier this year, its box office results do not.
"We were very disappointed," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen allowed.
'SOLARIS' SAGGING
Fox distribution boss Bruce Snyder also acknowledged disappointment with the opening for the Steven Soderbergh-helmed "Solaris."
"The picture was very well reviewed, so I'm thinking maybe the holiday just wasn't the weekend for audiences to be challenged and they will still show up for the picture," Snyder offered.
"Solaris" skewed mostly older, so it doesn't appear the picture was helped much by Soderbergh's successful appeal to have an initial "R" rating changed to "PG13."
Disney distribution president Chuck Viane said the "Planet" opening was "softer than we expected (and) we'll just have to keep our fingers crossed" for better box office in coming weeks.
But Sony Pictures vice-chairman Jeff Blake expressed satisfaction with the bow for "Eight Crazy Nights," which was produced for an estimated $34 million.
"By animation standards, that's downright cheap," Blake said. "We'll make a profit on it."
MGM distribution president Erik Lomis said the Bond picture's repeat atop the box office heap shows "Day" is playing broadly.
"Marketing was great in getting it to open," Lomis said. "(But) it's a good movie, and people really like the film. I think it's Pierce Brosnan's best Bond film and (co-star) Halle Berry really adds to it."
'POTTER' ON TRACK
Warner Bros. distribution president Dan Fellman noted the "Potter" sequel reached $200 million in just 17 days. Last year's original reached $219 million in the same span, but recent strong grosses show the sequel is well on track to closely mimic original's boffo run, Fellman said.
12/02/02 02:38
The Santa Clause, i think will only make more money because of Christmas time. Treasure Planet's opening was bad becuase of Bond and Harry.
