Big Picture
Ashlee & Vincent Take NY Plus, Nicole Kidman hangs out with her family and Bradley Cooper is a grizzly guy. The latest pics!
MORE PHOTOS +Most Commented
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: Vote in the Final Round! (2036)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (974)
- TV's Top Couples Tournament: This Round Is Closed, Please Stand By (695)
- Afternoon Mail! Are Gleeks Having More Sex Than Vamps? (586)
- TV's Top Couple Tournament: And the Winner Is... (480)
- Whitney Houston Dead at 48 (394)
- Beyoncé and Jay-Z Share First Photos of Baby Blue Ivy! (392)
- Morning Mail! Is Lea Michele Ready to Walk Like an Egyptian? (286)
- Twilight Director Talks Kristen Stewart and Ex Michael Angarano: "They Were Such a Great Couple" (261)
- Life After Breaking Dawn?! Maybe, Says Studio Head! (226)
Top 10 Stories
- Up All Night First Look: Watch Alanis Morissette and Maya Rudolph Perform a Curse-Filled Duet
- Bobby Brown: Bobbi Kristina "Doing Much Better" as Whitney Houston Funeral Approaches
- Did Sony Try to Cash In on Whitney Houston's Death? Label Apologizes for Pricing "Mistake"
- Whitney Houston Death Probe: Doctors, Medical Records Sought in Investigation
- So True? So False? Did Billy Bob Thornton Use Bizzarro Relationship With Angelina Jolie as Basis for New Movie?!
- Sienna Miller Shows Off Baby Bump at Fashion Week Fête
- Teen Mom 2 Finale Recap: Jenelle Rehabs, Leah Divorces, Kailyn Gets Dumped and Chelsea... Sigh
- Playmate Claire Sinclair Describes Scene of Alleged Domestic Dispute With Marston Hefner
- Glee-Dux: Guess Who's Back?! V-Day Episode Delivers Romance, Smooches and Shockers!
- Blake Lively Gets Restraining Order Against Man Who Wanted to "Guide" Her
Fashion Police
Angelina: Going Grey! Plus, Christina Hendricks, Vanessa Hudgens, Rosie Huntington-Whiteley, Michelle Williams and Kristen Wiig. Rate the highs and lows!
MORE PHOTOS +
Our Partners
"Sith" Holds off Animals, Sandler
Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith remained galactic, Madagascar ran wild, and The Longest Yard scored over a memorable, if not quite milestone-shattering, Memorial Day at the multiplex.
While the overall box office of $225.5 million for the four-day was off about 6 percent from last year's record $238.6 million (led by Shrek 2 and The Day After Tomorrow), it is still the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend ever.
Leading the charge was the Star Wars saga's third and final prequel, which retained the top spot with $55.2 million from Friday to Sunday and $70 million for the Friday-Monday holiday, according to final studio figures released Tuesday.
DreamWorks' computer-generated cartoon Madagascar, about a bunch of critters breaking out of the Central Park Zoo for the wild, snared $47.2 million its opening three days and $61 million over four days to take second place by a whisker. The Longest Yard, the remake of the prison-yard pigskin flick, did better over the three-day period, running up $47.6 million, but fell off slightly on Monday to finish the four-day holiday with $58.6 million.
Sith only dropped 49 percent from its opening weekend and continued to attract repeat business. The film added two more sites to play in 3,663 locations, where it averaged $19,123 for the four days. The Fox release hit the $200 million mark in record-tying time on Thursday and has now grossed a Jabba-esque $270.5 million domestically and $504.4 million worldwide.
DreamWorks' Madagascar, starring the voices of Chris Rock as a jive-talking zebra, Ben Stiller as the leonine king of the urban jungle, Jada Pinkett Smith as a sassy hippo, David Schwimmer as a neurotic giraffe and Sacha Baron Cohen (aka Ali G) as a truly swinging lemur. The family-targeted PG release opened at 4,131 sites, where it averaged $14,769.
Winning a higher per-screen average at fewer locations was The Longest Yard, Paramount's PG-13 remake of the 1974 gridiron romp, which starred Burt Reynolds. In this go-round Reynolds appears in a supporting role while Adam Sandler plays the locked-up football star forced to lead a motley crew against the prison guards. The ubiquitous Chris Rock also stars. At 3,634 sites Yard's four-day average was $16,129 per theater.
Although business overall was still down for the 14th straight week from last year, it was up 13 percent over last weekend, which bodes well for summer business. With audiences getting out of school and heading to the theaters for movies they actually want to see, exhibitors and studio suits are finally exhaling. Universal in particular has high hopes for Cinderella Man, which opens next weekend. The Depression-era boxing saga starring Russell Crowe is already attracting Oscar talk. The Ron Howard-helmed film was sneaked at 761 theaters this weekend, where it scored exceptionally high marks with test audiences.
Here's a rundown of the top 10 movies for the three- and four-day period, based on final studio tallies compiled by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Star Wars: Episode III--Revenge of the Sith, $55.2 million; $70 million
2. Madagascar, $47.2 million; $61 million
3. The Longest Yard, $47.6 million; $58.6 million
4. Monster-in-Law, $10.2 million; $12.8 million
5. Kicking & Screaming, $5.1 million; $6.5 million
6. Crash, $4.7 million; $6.1 million
7. The Interpreter, $2.1 million; $2.6 million
8. Unleashed, $1.9 million; $2.5 million
9. Kingdom of Heaven; $1.7 million, $2.2 million
10. House of Wax, $1.3 million; $1.6 million
(Originally published May 30, 2005 at 1:15 p.m. PT.)
0 Comments
Now loading...