Hulk smash, indeed!
There was plenty of green--on the screen and in studio coffers--this weekend thanks to Universal's The Hulk. The not-so-jolly green giant rampaged into theaters with $62.1 million, the biggest haul ever for a June opener.
Director Ang Lee's rendition of Stan Lee and Jack Kirby's comic book tale--starring newcomer Eric Bana as milquetoast science guy Bruce Banner, a computer-generated hunk of green as his monstrous alter ego, Jennifer Connelly as the lab's resident beauty and Nick Nolte as Banner's wacko dad--enters the record books well ahead of the $54.9 million debut of the previous June record holder, Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me, which opened in 1999.
According to final box-office results Monday, The Hulk registered the third best debut for a comic-inspired character, only beaten by his fellow Marvel-based heroes in X2: X-Men United, which snagged $85.5 million when it opened this May, and, of course, Spider-Man, which took in an astounding $114.8 million when it opened in May 2002.
Squeezed into 3,660 sites, the PG-13 movie's per-screen average was $16,975. It attracted 44 percent of the weekend box office, equally divided between adults with memories of the comic and the TV series and a young crowd just looking for action. Despite its record-setting haul, some Industry analysts apparently felt the film, which reportedly cost about $150 million to produce, would open even stronger, even though there had been some negative prerelease publicity over the CGI version of the Hulk, and reviews had been mixed.
Still, producer Avi Arad, who heads Marvel Comics' studio operations, told Reuters he was very pleased with the opening. "People coming out of the movie didn't seem to have anything but high praise for what the creature ended up looking like, because they saw it for the first time in context, not just seeing a frozen picture of the Hulk." A sequel is already on the drawing board.
The Hulk's arrival washed the fully animated Finding Nemo back to second place, but the Disney-Pixar fish tale still earned $21.1 million, with a very perky per-screen average of $6,210 at 3,404 sites, pushing its four-week total to a whale-sized $228.5 million.
In third place 2 Fast 2 Furious earned enough--$11.1 million--in its third week to become the ninth film released this year to cross the $100 million mark. The street-racing sequel, another Universal release, has tallied $102.9 million.
It was a lucrative weekend for Universal, which also had the fourth-place film, Bruce Almighty. The playing-God comedy grossed $8.5 million over the weekend and has now grossed $210.5 million, joining Finding Nemo, X2 and The Matrix Reloaded as the films this year to reach that lofty box-office mark.
On the flipside, few moviegoers loved Alex & Emma. The romantic comedy, starring Luke Wilson and Kate Hudson as a writer and stenographer who fall for each other as they collaborate on a book, opened in seventh place with just $6.1 million. The PG-13 Warners release averaged $2,645 at 2,310 sites.
But that was downright boffo compared to From Justin to Kelly. The beach-blanket musical love romp, starring American Idol's first season winner, Kelly Clarkson, and runner-up, Justin Guarini, got sand kicked in its face. The PG-rated Fox flick, which was dumped into theaters without being screened for critics (never a good thing), failed to make the top 10. It opened in 11th place with a Clay-sized $2.7 million, averaging only $1,357 at 2,001 sites.
In limited release, the R-rated Sony Picture Classic The Legend of Suriyothai, a historical saga set in Siam, took in $6,558 per screen at seven sites for $45,904.
Meanwhile, last week's openers dropped drastically.
Not surprisingly the silly-ass farce Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd fell hardest, down 60 percent to $4.4 million and dropping from sixth to ninth place. The prequel's two-week gross is just $20 million.
Hollywood Homicide, also fell three spots, from fifth to eighth. It was off 47 percent, taking in just $5.7 million. Despite its headliners--Harrison Ford and Josh Hartnett --the buddy cop dramedy has only grossed $21.6 million.
Rugrats Go Wild! did somewhat better, only down two spots, from fourth to sixth, but that was a 40 percent decline. Earning $6.9 million the kiddie 'toon has so far grossed $23.8 million.
Box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations estimates that the top 12 movies earned $142.7 million, a solid 23 percent flex up from last weekend, but still 5 percent less than this time last year when theatergoers distributed their dollars more evenly among the top choices.
Here is how the top 10 shaped up, according to final studio tallies:
1. The Hulk, $62.1 million
2. Finding Nemo, $21.1 million
3. 2 Fast 2 Furious, $11.1 million
4. Bruce Almighty, $9.8 million
5. The Italian Job, $7.2 million
6. Rugrats Go Wild!, $6.9 million
7. Alex & Emma, $6.1 million
8. Hollywood Homicide, $5.9 million
9. Dumb and Dumberer, $4.4 million
10. The Matrix Reloaded, $3.9 million
(Originally published June 22, 2003 at 1:35 p.m. PT.)