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"Hitchhiker's Guide" Galactic
Don't panic. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy was the biggest movie in the galaxy this weekend.
Despite some so-so reviews, the sci-fi comedy trip got a thumbs up from moviegoers and easily topped the weekend box office, debuting with $21.1 million, thumping the weekend's other top newcomer, the Vin Diesel-less sequel XXX: State of the Union, which stalled in third place with $12.7 million, per final studio tallies Monday.
Hitchhiker's Guide, the long-awaited big-screen adaptation of Douglas Adams' wry trek through a very strange universe, debuted in 3,133 theatres, where it averaged $6,736. The PG Disney release, the first would-be blockbuster of the season, was directed by Garth Jennings and stars Martin Freeman (from the British version of The Office) as Earth survivor Arthur Dent, whose trippy intergalactic itinerary also includes Mos Def, Zooey Deschanel, Sam Rockwell, Bill Nighy, John Malkovich, assorted Jim Henson Creature Shop creatures and the voice of Alan Rickman.
"Obviously, the thought process of the public was, 'That looks interesting. I want to see it. It's fresh and looks different,'" Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution, commented to the Associated Press.
With no Diesel power, the Ice Cube-starring XXX sequel failed to garner extreme ticket sales. The PG-13 Sony/Revolution release, directed by Lee Tamahori and costarring Samuel L. Jackson and Willem Dafoe, opened at 3,480 theaters, where it averaged only $3,653.
Diesel's XXX opened in August 2002 with a fast and furious first place finish of $44.5 million from a $13,191 per-screen average. It eventually grossed $141.2 million. Despite Ice Cube's popularity--his most recent movie, the family comedy Are We There Yet?, has grossed $81.3 million since opening in January with a first-place $18.5 million--the State of the Union is grim, at least domestically. The sequel is reportedly playing better in overseas markets.
Rory Bruer, Sony's head of distribution, told the Associated Press he couldn't explain why the movie had opened so weakly. "Certainly we are disappointed, because it's a film we all believed in. We have Ice Cube, who is a big star, and I think he's one of those rare actors who really can do just about anything. So I really don't know."
Meanwhile, The Interpreter, bumped from the top slot it occupied a week ago, earned $13.8 million in second place. The PG-13 Universal release dropped a modest 39 percent and has so far grossed $43.2 million.
The U.N.-based thriller, directed by Sydney Pollack and teaming Oscar winners Sean Penn and Nicole Kidman, added six screens to play at 2,764 sites and averaged $5,005.
The top 12 films grossed $80.9 million--the 10th straight week the cumulative box office has been down from the same period in 2004. A year ago, Mean Girls snitched up $24.4 million in the top slot, and the box-office take of the top 12 films was 14 percent higher.
Here's a rundown of the top 10 films, based on studio figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, $21.1 million
2. The Interpreter, $13.8 million
3. XXX: State of the Union, $12.7 million
4. The Amityville Horror, $7.9 million
5. Sahara, $5.7 million
6. A Lot Like Love, $5.1 million
7. Fever Pitch, $3.5 million
8. Kung Fu Hustle, $3.3 million
9. Robots, $2.3 million
10. Guess Who, $2.2 million
(Originally published May 1, 2005 at 12:30 p.m. PT.)
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