Notable mentions include My Big Fat Greek Wedding, which just started its record box office run, opening with $597,362 at 108 theaters. Wedding would really sparkle during the late summer and early fall time period when it kept itself consistently in the top five of the charts. Another remarkable film released in April (2002) was the Tom Cruise narrated Space Station.

Although only opening with close to $500,000, the Imax film has grossed close to $30 million thus far. Both Wedding and Space Station opened quietly, but displayed remarkable legs. Wedding in particular was the movie story of the year with a total gross so far of $223 million in counting, spending a remarkable 37 weeks in the top 20 so far and 19 non-consecutive weeks in the top 10 with ten of those weeks in the top 5. The run displayed by this $5 million budgeted film will go down in movie history. It is now the all time biggest independent film of all time.

Although there were a few winners in April, there were many disappointing films. The poorly titled Big Trouble opened with only $3.5 million from close to 2000 theaters and finished its run with about $7 million. Cameron Diaz’s The Sweetest Thing held a total of close to $24 million while Jason X opened with $6.6 million yet ended its run with $12.6 million. Lastly, Angelina Jolie’s Life or Something Like It finished its run with only $14.4 million. The box office would really pick up the first week of May.

Before Spider-Man opened, all eyes were on Star Wars: Episode II: Attack of the Clones. The latest Star Wars prequel was the film to beat this year and was the clear favorite to become the biggest film of 2002. But the bar was considerably raised when the long in development Spider-Man finally hit theaters on May 3. The Sony tent pole-picture smashed records in its path and set numerous benchmarks. The film opened with $114.8 million, becoming the first movie to ever break $100 million in an opening weekend and broke the opening weekend record by close to $24.5 million! On Friday, May 3 it grabbed a whopping $39.4 million and increased on Saturday to $43.6 million, before dipping down to $31.8 million on Sunday. The blockbuster grabbed the biggest second and third weekend tallies as well. It crashed through the $200 million and $300 million benchmarks in a record 9 and 22 days respectively.

Spider-Man finished with close to $403.4 million (not including its re-release with Men In Black 2), becoming the 5th biggest film of all time, highest grossing Sony picture, and highest grossing comic book adaptation. The most remarkable thing about Spider-Man’s run had to be that it actually displayed legs after its monstrous opening, falling 37.8% and 36.9% in its subsequent weeks. This type of hold was incredible for a comic book adaptation and hugely anticipated film. During its opening weekend, every holdover in the top 10 fell over 40%, indicating that Spider-Man was pulling in almost all demographics. Deuces Wild and Hollywood Ending floundered in Spider’s presence, as the films opened with $2.7 million and $2.0 million respectively before finishing their dismal runs with $6.1 million and $4.9 million respectively. Spider-Man was clearly the film to beat after its opening, which left many astounded.

All focus immediately went to the latest Star Wars prequel. Attack of the Clones attacked theaters on May 16 with close to $30.1 million before pulling an opening weekend of $80 million. The first bad sign Attack of the Clones might under-perform may have been that its opening weekend was initially estimated at $86 million. Attack of the Clones’ future was clear when it fell 40.2 % the following weekend (Friday - Sunday) despite it being Memorial Day weekend. The following weekend Clones crashed and burned 56%, pulling in $21 million. At this time there was some serious doubt about whether the film could even pass $300 million. All things said, Attack of the Clones did eventually climb past $300 million during Labor Day weekend. It grabbed the title of second highest grossing film of the year, but should soon be eclipsed by Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers.

The one-two punch of Spider-man and Attack of the Clones dominated the month of May, but Clone’s quick demise did leave room for other films to succeed. The Sum of All Fears brought down Attack of the Clones from the top of the weekend charts and commanded $31.2 million before ending its run with close to $119 million. Unfaithful not only brought critical acclaim to actress Diane Lane, but it also brought in $52.7 million. Memorial Day openers Insomnia and Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron did great business, ending their runs with $67.3 million and $73.2 million respectively. About a Boy, Undercover Brother, and Enough also performed solidly in May. The first month of the summer season did sparkling business and set the stage for what was to be a very exciting and record breaking summer season.

The first week of June brought audiences The Divine Secrets of the Ya Ya Sisterhood and Bad Company. Jerry Bruckheimer’s latest became his biggest flop in close to twenty years, as it finished its run with just $30 million (Sisterhood on the other hand scored $70 million). June really shined when Scooby Doo hit theaters and nearly broke the June opening weekend record with a bow of $54.2 million. The Freddie Prinze, Jr. film displayed no legs whatsoever, ending its run with $153 million. Who could foresee that Jr.
would ever have a film make over $100 million? Matt Damon’s The Bourne Identity also shined with its $122 million finish, but the weekend’s other opener was clearly seen as a disappointment. John Woo’s Windtalkers made just $41 million in total despite having a budget over $100 million.