Posted on 06/04/2006 12:55:04 PM PDT by Daralundy
Supported by real-life romantic splits and hookups, Jennifer Aniston and Vince Vaughn's "The Break-Up" pulled an upset over the mutant world of the "X-Men."
"The Break-Up" debuted more strongly than expected with $38.1 million to take over as the No. 1 weekend movie from "X-Men: The Last Stand," which slipped to second place with $34.35 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Aniston's split from Brad Pitt last year and her reported romance that began with Vaughn while filming "The Break-Up" helped keep the movie in the public eye.
"They're always in the press," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released "The Break-Up." "Every time you turn around, somebody's talking about Jennifer, or Jennifer and Brad, or Jennifer and Vince. It's not why we made the movie, though."
"The Break-Up" pulled in about $10 million more than Rocco had expected.
After putting in a record four-day debut of $122.9 million over Memorial Day weekend, 20th Century Fox's third "X-Men" movie tumbled. The movie's domestic gross dropped a steep 67 percent from its Friday-Sunday haul the first weekend.
Still, "X-Men" raised its total to a whopping $175.7 million in just 10 days, a mark it took "X2: X-Men United" 18 days to reach. Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for Fox, said the film should top out at $240 million to $250 million, beating the $157 million take for the first "X-Men" and the $215 million return for "X2."
The huge decline in the second weekend was typical given how many people saw the movie over the holiday weekend, Snyder said.
"I'm not shocked at that drop," Snyder said.
DreamWorks Animation's cartoon comedy "Over the Hedge" held up well, placing third with $20.6 million for a three-week total of $112.4 million.
Sony's "The Da Vinci Code" was No. 4 with $19.3 million, lifting its three-week domestic gross to $172.7 million. Worldwide, the Tom Hanks film adapted from Dan Brown's best-seller has grossed $581 million and should hit at least $750 million globally, said Rory Bruer, Sony head of distribution.
In its second weekend, the Al Gore documentary "An Inconvenient Truth" went into wider release and broke into the top 10 with $1.33 million, even though it was playing in just 77 theaters.
Released by Paramount Classics, the film averaged an impressive $17,292 a theater, compared to $12,410 in 3,070 cinemas for "The Break-Up."
Chronicling the former vice president's campaign to educate people about the perils of global warming, "An Inconvenient Truth" expands to more theaters over the next two weekends.
"It's breakups and global warming that I think really are interesting people now," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Overall business rose slightly, with the top 12 movies taking in $128.9 million, up 1.6 percent from the same weekend last year.
After an 8 percent drop in movie attendance last year, Hollywood is positioned for a solid summer. Attendance is running about 1 percent ahead of last year's, with what looks like a solid crop of blockbusters still to come, including this Friday's animated comedy "Cars," from Disney and Pixar, and the Warner Bros. adventure "Superman Returns" on June 30.
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at U.S. and Canadian theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. "The Break-Up," $38.1 million.
2. "X-Men: The Last Stand," $34.35 million.
3. "Over the Hedge," $20.6 million.
4. "The Da Vinci Code," $19.3 million.
5. "Mission: Impossible III," $4.67 million.
6. "Poseidon," $3.4 million.
7. "RV," $3.3 million.
8. "See No Evil," $2 million.
9. "An Inconvenient Truth," $1.33 million.
10. "Just My Luck," $825,000.
I thought X3 was really cool, and I'm a baby boomer.
My younger son says they are spinning off two more sequels, one about Dr. X and Magneto in the early years, and one about Wolverine.
And, if you watched all the way through the credits, there's one final scene gives a very strong hint about X4.
I just saw a preview for "Ghost Rider" that looks very interesting, although Nicholas Cage plays Ghost Rider.
yeah I think they are working on an X4 and if you read Wikipedia or anything, it seems that the writer of the series has yet another sequel ready to go.
It does appear that "The Cure" isn't permanent.
That kinda gives a strong hint that Mystique and Magneto will come back.
Beyond that, they can STILL do something with the Dark Phoenix. Yeah I follow the comic book a bit :)
Lawrence, Lawrence of Arabia
He was an English guy
He came to fight the Turkish
Sorry, can't hear Lawrence of Arabia, without thinking of "Hollywood Knights."
No, except for the Russian version of "War and Peace," you can't expect the movie to include everything :-).
What really annoys me is when a movie doesn't include what's in the book, but does include stuff that's not in the book, that the director/screenwriter made up. I was ticked off by LOTR, and by the "Narnia" film, for the same reason. "This isn't in the book! They made it up, and left out this, that, and the other episode that WAS in the book!" (gripe, grump, grouch)
it's a movie....a little variance is ok with me.
So long as it isn't a bastardization.
One man's "variance" is another woman's "bastardization." It's all in your perspective!
So long as it isn't a bastardization.
Blade Runner has only the slightest resemblance to P. Dicks "Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep" But I still like the movie.
well there is that....sometimes a change can be a good thing.
Generally not, but sometimes.
Take the Tom Clancy books for example. The movies mostly sucked (Red October notwithstanding, but Sum of All Fears failed and you KNOW what they changed in that one), but most of the books have been decent to good.
I haven't read any of his novels, but it seems like every science fiction movie that comes out is based on one of his works now. A Scanner Darkly looks pretty interesting, and looks to allow Keanu Reeves to play the "Am I dreaming or just stoned" role that he does so well again.
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