Posted on 05/22/2005 3:40:26 PM PDT by Extremely Extreme Extremist
Frank Oz provides the voice of Yoda in Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith
'Star Wars' earns $108.5 million in first U.S. weekend Sunday May 22, 3:03PM ET
George Lucas' final "Star Wars" movie scored the second-best three-day weekend of all time on Sunday, but the Force was not strong enough to prevent overall ticket sales in North America from posting a year-on-year-decline for the 13th consecutive weekend.
"Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" sold an estimated $108.5 million worth of tickets for the Friday-to-Sunday period, taking its total to $158.5 million since it opened after midnight on Thursday.
Its four-day haul sets a new record, surpassing the $134.3 million tally of 2003's "The Matrix Reloaded." Its Thursday tally of $50 million also set a one-day record, beating the $44.8 million sum for "Shrek 2" last year.
The three-day weekend record is held by "Spider-Man," which opened to almost $115 million in 2002. "Revenge of the Sith" narrowly pipped "Shrek 2," which opened with $108 million. Rankings could change when final data are issued on Monday.
The new "Star Wars" film easily beat the opening weekends of its two most recent predecessors, all of which were released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.
"Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones" nabbed $80 million during its first weekend three years ago, while 1999's "Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace" kick-started the 28-year-old franchise with a $64.8 million bow. They ended up with $311 million and $431 million respectively.
"Revenge of the Sith" answers the age-old question of how the evil warlord Darth Vader crossed over to the dark side. The critics were generally kind, perhaps mindful that "Sith" marks the end of an era and was not as bad as the last two much-maligned films. But Rolling Stone magazine lamented writer/director Lucas' "special knack ... of turning flesh-and-blood characters into cardboard cutouts."
According to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films earned about $156 million during the weekend, down 4.5 percent from the year-ago period. The losing streak is expected to continue into the upcoming Memorial Day weekend since last year's holiday was a record.
"It's going to take a lot to reverse this trend," said Exhibitor Relations president Paul Dergarabedian. New releases next weekend include the animated comedy "Madagascar" and the football comedy remake "The Longest Yard."
Elsewhere at the box office, last weekend's champ "Monster-in-Law," starring Jennifer Lopez and Jane Fonda, slipped to No. 2 with $14.4 million, followed by sports comedy "Kicking & Screaming," starring Will Ferrell and Robert Duvall, with $10.5 million.
"Monster-in-Law" was released by New Line Cinema, a unit of Time Warner Inc. "Kicking & Screaming" was released by Universal Pictures, a unit of NBC Universal, which is majority owned by General Electric Co.
Any good divx versions online yet?
It's a comedy, right?
This remarkable movie is the true story of a Bohemian St. Francis and his remarkable relationship with a flock of wild red-and-green parrots. Mark Bittner, a dharma bum*, former street musician in San Francisco, falls in with the flock as he searches for meaning in his life, unaware that the wild parrots will bring him everything he needs.
Check my thread... heavy spoliers so beware!!!!!!!
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-chat/1408119/posts
I really thought it was one of the best movies I had ever seen and definitely the best of all 6 movies...
Christiansen blew my mind... his acting improved so much I hardly knew it was the same kid from dismal Episode 2.... he should get an Oscar nod...
Lucas has earned his money on this one...
I stood up in the theater, my wife soon followed and saluted with me the flag of the United States of America during the final climatic scene at the end of the movie. It was almost impossible to swallow the lump the size of a basketball in my throat when I saw that flag waving with "Spidey" near by. Maybe I was a bit too emotional, but that scene was given a standing ovation at the movie theater. It was probably just the times.
I still get a lump in my throat when I see that scene.
We shall see!!! I predict next weekend will see a dramatic drop in revenue!!! The hype has ended.
This is going to be a terrible revenue year for the movie industry. They just don't get it!!!
I strongly suspect that Lucas' comments, if he in fact made them, about the comparison between his movies and President Bush are part of the hype, to get people to see the movie.
I don't plan on seeing it, as I am not the Star Wars fanatic I once was when the movie first came out, and I don't waste my money on anything H-wood has to offer these days.
Those of you who enjoyed the movie, great! I'd heard it was a good one, if a little gory in parts.
My son got one. It has time codes across the top and is anamorphic, but not widescreen so everything is tall and skinny even when you put it on a widescreen TV. Picture quality is fair, audio is fair.
Can't wait for the real DVD; it's an awesome movie for the most part and the so-called political stuff is inconsequential.
Cheers
Jim
The PT is not the 'history' I imagined for the OT characters. I didn't like the characterizations.
That being said, I do give Lucas full credit for completing a story over a period of 28 years. I don't know if that has been done before.
I also would agree that the PT films are visually/technologically stunning. As they should be with unlimited time and money- however.
A movie, for me, is the story/script. The words matter more than the spfx. I don't know what possessed me, but I read the ROTS script online.
To call it pedestrian and amateur would be a kindness.
Shallow- that's the word.
And why? Why couldn't we have had a great script too?
Just saw it. First hour and a half was awfully boring except for a few great battle scenes. The last half hour was fantastic. Now I just saw the origional when we got home and it's still a classic and has magic that these 3 new ones greatly lack.
These are estimates. The real totals come out on Monday.
This is not a "disappointing" number by any stretch of the imagination.
Star Wars opened on Thursday, Spidey on a Friday. ROTS now owns the records for biggest opening three day gross, easily ecplising Spiderman's $114 million. It also now owns the biggest 4 day gross ($158.5 million), easily obliterating the previous record held by the Matrix Reloaded ($134.2 million).
ROTS now holds the record for the second highest opening weekend, which is pretty amazing as it grossed $50 million dollars on Thursday... that figure was obviously going to take a bite out of the weekend total.
All told, ROTS opened to over $305 million dollars worldwide...
"Impressive... most impressive."
Yancy
I saw the movie last night and thoroughly enjoyed it.
Yoda is ace !
Would rational people get something from it, too?
I'm with you there. I mean, really - Lucas has been developing this plot since Gerald Ford was president. I don't think he'll be particularly unhappy with any parallels people care to draw, but I also really, really doubt he went out of his way to write an anti-Bush piece.
I felt connected to the birds and felt very sympathetic towards him. I liked it very much.
It's not a political movie.
You may not recall, but the actually had to change Spiderman after 9/11. It was already well underway by then, and apparently involved a scene with a web spun between the towers. Some shots here:
http://www.onlyonfilm.com/locations/movies/worldtradecenter_16.shtml
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