Easter Bunny Delivers "Anger"

Forget Peter Cottontail and that basketful of Easter joy nonsense--moviegoers preferred to deal with some Anger Management issues this holiday weekend.

For the second straight weekend, the Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson yukfest retained its chokehold on the box office, scoring $25 million between Friday and Sunday, according to final studio figures, to hold off a slew of newbie releases.

For its 10-day run, the PG-13 Sony/Revolution Studios flick about a wrongfully persecuted mild-mannered secretary and his button-pushing counselor, has grossed more than $80 million and should top the $100 million mark by next weekend. For the Easter weekend, Anger Management averaged $7,004 at 3,570 theaters, best among the top 10.

Tunneling in at number two, Disney's big-screen take on Louis Sachar's hugely popular kid book Holes. Starring newcomer Shia LeBeouf as one of a group of juvenile delinquents forced to dig in the desert for some mean adults (played by Sigourney Weaver and Jon Voight), Holes opened big, tallying $16.3 million and exceeding Disney's own expectations. With little competition for the family-friendly dollar, Holes also shoveled up the second-best per-screen average in the top 10, with $6,993 at 2,331 sites. Can you say sequel?

At number three was another new entry: Jamie Kennedy's wannabe whitebread rapper farce Malibu's Most Wanted. The PG-13 Warner Bros. spoof, inspired by Kennedy's hidden-camera WB hijinks, hip-hopped its way to a solid $12.6 million, easily eclipsing the fourth-place film, Bulletproof Monk. Based on a comic book, MGM's PG-13 martial-arts buddy action comedy, mismatching Chow Yun-Fat's supermonk and Seann William Scott's wisecracking pickpocket, only managed to kick up $8.7 million. Since opening on Wednesday (to take advantage of both Passover and Easter), Monk has grossed just $11.7 million.

With a budget of only $15 million, Malibu will turn a tidy profit for Warners. Monk, on the other hand, proved to be the latest disappointment for struggling MGM.

Debuting just outside the top 10 were two flicks in smaller release: Chasing Papi and A Mighty Wind.

Papi, 20th Century Fox's nominal comedy about an unrepentant ladies man who gets his comeuppance at the hand of his three girlfriends, finished in 11th for the weekend with $2.4 million. Targeting the Latino audience, Papi averaged $4,110 in 585 cinemas.

A Mighty Wind, Christopher Guest's latest mockumentary, this one focusing on some washed-up '60s folkies reuniting for a TV benefit concert and featuring an on-screen musical reteaming of Guest and Spinal Tap mates Michael McKean and Harry Shearer, was thisclose to catching Papi, grossing $2.1 million for Warners. But Wind blew away Papi in the per-screen battle, scoring the best average of the weekend: $15,881 in just 133 theaters. Warners plans on rolling out the film wider in the coming weeks.

Since opening Wednesday, Papi has grossed $3.2 million and Wind, $2.7 million.

Finally, recently coronated Best Picture Chicago saw its tally hit the $160 million mark this weekend, making it the top-grossing film in Miramax's history, surpassing Scary Movie.

The top 12 films grossed $88.5 million, according to the receipt trackers at Exhibitor Relations, up 5 percent from last weekend but down 5 percent from the same period last year.

Here are the top 10 films, according to final studio tallies:

1. Anger Management, $25 million
2. Holes, $16.3 million
3. Malibu's Most Wanted, $12.6 million
4. Bulletproof Monk, $8.7 million
5. Phone Booth, $5.7 million
6. What a Girl Wants, $4.5 million
7. Bringing Down the House, $3.3 million
8. A Man Apart, $2.8 million
9. House of 1,000 Corpses, $2.52 million
10. Chicago, $2.5 million

(Originally published April 20, 2003 at 12:15 p.m. PT.)