'Hitch' fends off 'Constantine' to retain top boxoffice spot
'Hitch' stays on top
Feb 22, 2005
Sony's "Hitch" demonstrated considerable prowess at the boxoffice during the four-day Presidents Day weekend as it fought off three new wide releases and hooked up with an estimated $36.5 million to hold the top spot for the second straight session.
The Will Smith starrer, a PG-13 romantic comedy, narrowly bested the debut of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Constantine," a supernatural thriller starring Keanu Reeves that placed second with a solid opening of an estimated $34.6 million.
While it's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because of the Monday holiday, the boxoffice for the first three days of the four-day frame for "Hitch" was $31.4 million, down just 27% from its debut. The Andy Tennant-directed feature has accumulated a sterling estimate of $94.8 million in 11 days and will be the first release of the year to cross the $100 million mark.
The opening for the Francis Lawrence-directed "Constantine" set several records of its own this weekend: It was the biggest opening ever for an R-rated film during any four-day holiday session, and it was a company best for Warners for the Presidents Day weekend, topping "Message in a Bottle" ($18.8 million). The debut of "Constantine" also topped the first weekend of another untested, R-rated sci-fi actioner starring Reeves -- 1999's "The Matrix" ($27.8 million).
With several family-friendly films still playing in the top tier of the marketplace, two PG-rated pictures aimed at that same audience had mild and lackluster debuts in the third and fourth slots, respectively: 20th Century Fox's "Because of Winn-Dixie," starring Jeff Daniels and directed by Wayne Wang, generated an estimated $13.2 million, and New Line Cinema's "Son of the Mask" conjured up an estimated $10.1 million.
Sony's "Are We There Yet?" continued to hold up well, as the PG-rated family comedy parked in the fifth spot with an estimated $8.1 million, taking its cume to an impressive $71.1 million to date.
Altogether, and thanks largely to the potent one-two punch from "Hitch" and "Constantine," this Presidents Day weekend will be -- at the very least -- the third biggest in history for the holiday frame. The session has an outside shot at being the second-biggest and possibly even the largest ever recorded for the holiday.
The estimated total for this weekend's top 12 films was $139.4 million, up a healthy 14% from the Presidents Day frame last year, which arrived a week earlier on the calendar. The Hollywood Reporter forecasts the total for all films this weekend to be in the high-$150 million to low-$160 million area, up from last year's $145.2 million. The best Presidents Day weekend of all time was recorded in 2003, with $164.3 million, with the second-best posting $163.5 million in 2002.
On the second to last weekend before the Oscars, the three best picture nominees in the top rankings did well.
Warners' "Million Dollar Baby," helmed by Clint Eastwood and starring Hilary Swank, was in the sixth slot with an estimated $7.8 million from 2,105 rings. The boxing drama has a cume to date of about $55.3 million.
Miramax's "The Aviator" was ninth with $5 million from 1,710 theaters. The Martin Scorsese-directed biopic of Howard Hughes, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, advanced its total to about $89 million.
The only comedy in the best picture mix, Fox Searchlight's "Sideways," placed 10th with $4.9 million from 1,300 venues. The boxoffice glass for the Alexander Payne-helmed film is filled to an estimated $59.1 million.
As "Hitch" topped the charts once again, executives at Sony were pleasantly surprised but were not caught off guard. "We had anticipated a strong hold. The film had great exits, and we knew that audiences loved this film," Sony Pictures Releasing president Rory Bruer said. "It's a movie that has something for everyone -- the dynamics of a romantic comedy, with Will Smith and Eva Mendes, as well as the broad comedy aspects with Will Smith and Kevin James."
Across town at Warners, executives were likewise upbeat about the debut of "Constantine." "Considering that this was an unknown quantity, we're obviously really pleased with the results and look forward to the sequel," president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said. "The exits were excellent, which leads us to conclude that the film will continue to do well," he noted. Co-produced with Village Roadshow, "Constantine" skewed slightly more male with 56% but was equally balanced in the age demographic with a 50-50 ratio of those older and younger than 25.
President of distribution Bruce Snyder was satisfied with the opening for "Winn-Dixie," which was co-produced with Walden Media. "It was right where I was hoping it would be, so that's terrific," Snyder said. "The opening was almost equal to film's budget, so that's very, very good." As expected, "Winn-Dixie" attracted a mostly family audience, with 81% falling in that category. A large 47% of the audience for the movie, adapted from the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was younger than 12, while 34% were parents, according to Fox.
The story was not quite as upbeat at New Line this weekend regarding the debut of "Son of the Mask." "We're a little disappointed," said president of domestic distribution David Tuckerman, who attributed part of the problem to the crowd of family films in the marketplace. "We hoped we'd do better." While Tuckerman noted that exits were not available, he said that the 12-and-under crowd really enjoyed the movie.
Tuckerman also noted that the costs for the special-effects-laden "Son of the Mask," starring Jamie Kennedy and helmed by Lawrence Guterman, were offset by foreign sales, which reduced the distributor's exposure on the film to about $20 million. The film was co-produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and Radar Pictures.
Taking advantage of the four-day holiday session were several limited-release debuts. Newmarket's "Downfall," a drama about the last days of Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker, opened with an estimated $24,045 in one theater. "Downfall" is in Oscar contention for best foreign-language film.
Sony Classic's "Imaginary Heroes" opened in eight locales and grossed an estimated $35,424. The drama, helmed by Dan Harris and starring Sigourney Weaver, averaged $4,428 per theater and has collected about $43,919 to date, including receipts from an Academy-qualifying run in December.
IFC's "Turtles Can Fly" landed with an estimated $27,717 from four houses. The award-winning Iranian drama averaged a hopeful $6,929 per theater.
Paramount Classics' "Schultze Gets the Blues" debuted in four locations and drummed up an estimated $18,000. The comedy-drama from director Michael Schorr about an East German accordion player who finds a new passion for music when he discovers Louisiana-style zydeco, averaged $4,500 per theater.
Universal's "Inside Deep Throat" added 15 theaters in its sophomore frame, taking the count to 27, and grossed an estimated $155,000, averaging $5,741 per theater. The NC-17 documentary about the infamous pornographic film "Deep Throat" has taken in about $287,500 to date.
The national boxoffice for the week ending Feb. 17 was down nearly 3% from the comparable seven-day period last year ($166.4 million vs. $170.8 million), while the year-to-date total stands with an 8% surplus compared with this time last year ($948.1 million vs. $877.7 million). Estimated admissions for the year to date are up nearly 6% from the corresponding frame a year ago.
The Will Smith starrer, a PG-13 romantic comedy, narrowly bested the debut of Warner Bros. Pictures' "Constantine," a supernatural thriller starring Keanu Reeves that placed second with a solid opening of an estimated $34.6 million.
While it's not exactly an apples-to-apples comparison because of the Monday holiday, the boxoffice for the first three days of the four-day frame for "Hitch" was $31.4 million, down just 27% from its debut. The Andy Tennant-directed feature has accumulated a sterling estimate of $94.8 million in 11 days and will be the first release of the year to cross the $100 million mark.
The opening for the Francis Lawrence-directed "Constantine" set several records of its own this weekend: It was the biggest opening ever for an R-rated film during any four-day holiday session, and it was a company best for Warners for the Presidents Day weekend, topping "Message in a Bottle" ($18.8 million). The debut of "Constantine" also topped the first weekend of another untested, R-rated sci-fi actioner starring Reeves -- 1999's "The Matrix" ($27.8 million).
With several family-friendly films still playing in the top tier of the marketplace, two PG-rated pictures aimed at that same audience had mild and lackluster debuts in the third and fourth slots, respectively: 20th Century Fox's "Because of Winn-Dixie," starring Jeff Daniels and directed by Wayne Wang, generated an estimated $13.2 million, and New Line Cinema's "Son of the Mask" conjured up an estimated $10.1 million.
Sony's "Are We There Yet?" continued to hold up well, as the PG-rated family comedy parked in the fifth spot with an estimated $8.1 million, taking its cume to an impressive $71.1 million to date.
Altogether, and thanks largely to the potent one-two punch from "Hitch" and "Constantine," this Presidents Day weekend will be -- at the very least -- the third biggest in history for the holiday frame. The session has an outside shot at being the second-biggest and possibly even the largest ever recorded for the holiday.
The estimated total for this weekend's top 12 films was $139.4 million, up a healthy 14% from the Presidents Day frame last year, which arrived a week earlier on the calendar. The Hollywood Reporter forecasts the total for all films this weekend to be in the high-$150 million to low-$160 million area, up from last year's $145.2 million. The best Presidents Day weekend of all time was recorded in 2003, with $164.3 million, with the second-best posting $163.5 million in 2002.
On the second to last weekend before the Oscars, the three best picture nominees in the top rankings did well.
Warners' "Million Dollar Baby," helmed by Clint Eastwood and starring Hilary Swank, was in the sixth slot with an estimated $7.8 million from 2,105 rings. The boxing drama has a cume to date of about $55.3 million.
Miramax's "The Aviator" was ninth with $5 million from 1,710 theaters. The Martin Scorsese-directed biopic of Howard Hughes, starring Leonardo DiCaprio, advanced its total to about $89 million.
The only comedy in the best picture mix, Fox Searchlight's "Sideways," placed 10th with $4.9 million from 1,300 venues. The boxoffice glass for the Alexander Payne-helmed film is filled to an estimated $59.1 million.
As "Hitch" topped the charts once again, executives at Sony were pleasantly surprised but were not caught off guard. "We had anticipated a strong hold. The film had great exits, and we knew that audiences loved this film," Sony Pictures Releasing president Rory Bruer said. "It's a movie that has something for everyone -- the dynamics of a romantic comedy, with Will Smith and Eva Mendes, as well as the broad comedy aspects with Will Smith and Kevin James."
Across town at Warners, executives were likewise upbeat about the debut of "Constantine." "Considering that this was an unknown quantity, we're obviously really pleased with the results and look forward to the sequel," president of domestic distribution Dan Fellman said. "The exits were excellent, which leads us to conclude that the film will continue to do well," he noted. Co-produced with Village Roadshow, "Constantine" skewed slightly more male with 56% but was equally balanced in the age demographic with a 50-50 ratio of those older and younger than 25.
President of distribution Bruce Snyder was satisfied with the opening for "Winn-Dixie," which was co-produced with Walden Media. "It was right where I was hoping it would be, so that's terrific," Snyder said. "The opening was almost equal to film's budget, so that's very, very good." As expected, "Winn-Dixie" attracted a mostly family audience, with 81% falling in that category. A large 47% of the audience for the movie, adapted from the novel by Kate DiCamillo, was younger than 12, while 34% were parents, according to Fox.
The story was not quite as upbeat at New Line this weekend regarding the debut of "Son of the Mask." "We're a little disappointed," said president of domestic distribution David Tuckerman, who attributed part of the problem to the crowd of family films in the marketplace. "We hoped we'd do better." While Tuckerman noted that exits were not available, he said that the 12-and-under crowd really enjoyed the movie.
Tuckerman also noted that the costs for the special-effects-laden "Son of the Mask," starring Jamie Kennedy and helmed by Lawrence Guterman, were offset by foreign sales, which reduced the distributor's exposure on the film to about $20 million. The film was co-produced by Dark Horse Entertainment and Radar Pictures.
Taking advantage of the four-day holiday session were several limited-release debuts. Newmarket's "Downfall," a drama about the last days of Adolf Hitler in his Berlin bunker, opened with an estimated $24,045 in one theater. "Downfall" is in Oscar contention for best foreign-language film.
Sony Classic's "Imaginary Heroes" opened in eight locales and grossed an estimated $35,424. The drama, helmed by Dan Harris and starring Sigourney Weaver, averaged $4,428 per theater and has collected about $43,919 to date, including receipts from an Academy-qualifying run in December.
IFC's "Turtles Can Fly" landed with an estimated $27,717 from four houses. The award-winning Iranian drama averaged a hopeful $6,929 per theater.
Paramount Classics' "Schultze Gets the Blues" debuted in four locations and drummed up an estimated $18,000. The comedy-drama from director Michael Schorr about an East German accordion player who finds a new passion for music when he discovers Louisiana-style zydeco, averaged $4,500 per theater.
Universal's "Inside Deep Throat" added 15 theaters in its sophomore frame, taking the count to 27, and grossed an estimated $155,000, averaging $5,741 per theater. The NC-17 documentary about the infamous pornographic film "Deep Throat" has taken in about $287,500 to date.
The national boxoffice for the week ending Feb. 17 was down nearly 3% from the comparable seven-day period last year ($166.4 million vs. $170.8 million), while the year-to-date total stands with an 8% surplus compared with this time last year ($948.1 million vs. $877.7 million). Estimated admissions for the year to date are up nearly 6% from the corresponding frame a year ago.
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