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Weekend Box Office 2002 Box Office Report (Special Column)
by Ammar S.

July was full of many ups and downs with sequels scoring big time with audiences.  Despite being ridiculed by critics, Men In Black 2 scored $87 million in its first 5 days, on its way to $190 million. The sequel left a bad aftertaste with many fans.

Tom Hanks scored big with audiences playing a mob man in Road to Perdition and garnered fantastic buzz for his portrayal (The film made its way to $104 million).  The month’s biggest hit came late in the month when Austin Powers 3 smashed its way into theaters, breaking the July opening weekend record with a $73 million opening weekend, on its way to a monstrous $213 million, securing a spot in the top 5 of the summer. Solid performers of the month including the kid flick, Like Mike, with its $51 million tally. The rest of the month was rampant with disappointments as pictures just crashed and burned even if they had budgets over $100 million. The $100+ million budgeted K-19 and Stuart Little both disappointed, grabbing $35 million and $65 million respectively.

Stuart Little had to be one of the biggest disappointments of the year. It had many factors in its favor yet just could not capture much attention from the public. If Stuart Little 2 had opened in December like its predecessor, I truly believe it could have easily pulled in over $100 million. The Powerpuff Girls opened over Independence Day with a measly $3.6 from 2340 theaters before finishing with close to $11.4 million, while Disney’s first ride to movie project, The Country Bears, scored disappointing numbers as well with a total of just $17 million. Reign of Fire, Halloween: Resurrection, The Crocodile Hunter, and Eight Legged Freaks also performed dismally. The month was truly one of the most unpredictable of the year.

Business in the first two weeks of August used to be dismal compared to the rest of the season, but things have changed over the past few years. Signs and xXx proved this when they opened with $60 million and $45 million this past August. Signs finished its run with a great $228 million, and xXx grabbed close to $142 million from moviegoers. The other strong performer was Spy Kids 2: The Island of Lost Dreams, which grossed close to $86 million on a $38 million budget. Dana Carvey’s The Master of Disguise and (producer) Brian Grazer’s Blue Crush performed solidly while Blood Work, Serving Sara, Undisputed, Simone, and Feardotcom all performed poorly but should find more success on video/DVD shelves.

The month’s biggest loser and perhaps the biggest flop of the year would have to be Eddie Murphy’s second release of the year, The Adventures of Pluto Nash. Budgeted at $90 million, Nash had an opening day of just $727,870 from 2320 theaters, averaging $314 per theater. It pulled in $2.2 million opening weekend before finishing its quick and disastrous run with just $4.4 million.

Eddie Murphy’s awful year was not over yet, as Showtime and Nash would soon be joined by another disappointment, I Spy. Summer 2002 totaled $3.14 billion, 2.5% more than 2001’s tally. The big winner of the summer was Spider-Man with its $400+ million tally. A small independent film began expanding more quickly at the end of the summer, however, and would really take away some of Spider’s glory. Spider-Man was seen by many to be the story of the year by August, but IFC’s My Big Fat Wedding was just heating up by summer’s end and would captivate millions into the fall months, and secure and cement its spot in the record books.

September was perhaps the slowest month of the year, but helped tremendously by female-skewed pictures such as Greek Wedding and Sweet Home Alabama, and the Ice Cube picture Barbershop. While Wedding never once hit the top of the box office, it consistently remained a dominant box office player in September. Barbershop, on the other hand, took many by surprise and grossed close to $75 million in total on a $12 million budget. Sweet Home Alabama solidified Reese Witherspoon’s A-list star status, as it grabbed close to $36 million opening weekend on a $30 million budget, on its way to a fantastic $126 million. It also became the biggest September opening weekend of all time. The Tuxedo, The Banger Sisters, Swimfan, and One Hour Photo performed fairly well (Sisters, Swimfan, and Photo all had relatively low budgets).

On the other hand, City by the Sea, The Four Features, Stealing Harvard, Trapped all performed dismally. Ballistic: Ecks Vs. Sever was the month’s biggest disappointment, as it made just $14 million in total despite a $70 million budget. Many also felt that Spirited Away also had a disappointing run. The Japanese film played in limited release and made close to $5.4 million. But some felt that the film had the potential to pull in much more based on its status as Japan’s all-time box office champion, along with its almost universal critical praise. It may have a second life at the box office once Oscar nominations are announced.   Part 4 (October To December) >>


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