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Lee's Movie Info > First Half of 2002 Hits & Misses    Updated: 07/28/02  

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First Half of 2002 Hits & Misses

Spider-Man

by E. Charl Hattingh

The Holdovers

You know you are going to have a great year when you start it off with a blockbuster that is left over from the previous year. That movie was, of course, Lord of the Rings. The movie made $163 million in 2001, but continued on into 2002 making another $149 million at the domestic box office. And most of that was in the month of January, a month usually reserved for less-than-stellar box office results.

But that wasn't the only holdover from 2001 that made big money in January. Another 2001 release expanded into more theaters and went on to make about $80 million during January, and eventually went on to make around $155 million in 2002 (it made about $15 million in 2001) without ever being the number one movie on a weekend during its run! Need another clue as to which movie it is? Well, it also won Best Picture at the Academy Awards this year. Yes, and A Beautiful Mind ended with about $170 million in total domestic box office.

Black Hawk Down opened in limited release in 2001 for Oscar contention, but when it went into wide release on the 18th of January, the film made an unbelievable $33 million in its first weekend (a four day weekend) and went on to make over $100 million.

Ocean's Eleven also made about $50 million of its over $180 million total in 2002.

January Releases

Okay, so the biggest money makers in January were movies that were actually released in 2001. But there was one small hit that premiered in January as well. And no, Impostor wasn't it. Snow Dogs made an impressive debut going up against Black Hawk Down in its first weekend of wide release. The Disney film starring Cuba Gooding Jr. opened with $23 million over the four day Martin Luther King Jr. weekend and went on to make $81 million. But there were two big flops for the month; Kung Pow ($16 million) and Impostor ($6 million).

February Releases

This was an ugly month as far as box office grosses are concerned. Sure, there were a few small hits but some of Hollywood's biggest stars (Bruce Willis, Nicole Kidman and Arnold Schwarzenegger) and some of the most expensive movies (Rollerball) had some truly embarrassing box office returns. The only real hit for the month was the Denzel Washington drama, John Q, and that was just a minor hit. The movie had a pretty good opening, making $23 million over the four day President's Day weekend and went on to make $71 million.

Three movies that cost close to $100 million to produce fared less than average; bad and worse. Although Collateral Damage opened with $15 million, the movie went on to make only $40 million. I loved Hart's War, but the movie made a dismal $19 million. Rollerball was doomed long before it even opened, getting caught in post production problems and went on to get terrible reviews, making only $18.9 million in theaters. And after having a stellar 2001, Nicole Kidman's Birthday Girl made a pathetic $4.9 million at theaters. Britney Spears' Crossroads opened impressively with $17 million, but fizzled out at $37 million.

March Releases

After a pathetic month like February, you'd think Hollywood might just want to give up. But March would turn their fortunes around. Every one of the five weekends in March would turn out to have a movie opening with $20 million and above. The month started off with a $20 million premier weekend for the Mel Gibson war movie, We Were Soldiers. The movie went on to make $78 million, making it an average hit considering that it was Mel Gibson.

The following weekend the $80 million budgeted, The Time Machine, opened very impressively but fell quickly after word of mouth spread on how bad the movie was. Time Machine finished with $56 million.

So the month started off average-to-good, but in the third weekend a little family movie hit it really big. Okay, so Ice Age wasn't so little but that $46 million opening in March was simply unbelievable. The movie stayed in the top ten grossing movies for nine weeks, and went on to make about $175 million. But the big openings didn't stop with Ice Age.

The very next weekend Blade II opened at number one with $32.5 million. The movie dropped quickly in the weeks after and the movie made $81 million.

The weekend after Blade II opened, Panic Room premiered with $30 million, making it three weeks in a row that a movie premiered with $30 million or more. Although the movie made a good showing in its second weekend, the Panic ended $5 million short of the century mark ($95 million).

A sleeper hit during the month of big hits was The Rookie, grossing $74.9 million. Not bad for a movie that cost $22 million to make.

Three disappointments for March were Showtime ($37 million), E.T. ($35 million) and Death to Smoochy ($8 million).

April Releases

Well, you knew it would happen. After a month like March, there was bound to be a let down. Only one movie managed to make more than $20 million on its opening weekend. Actually, The Scorpion King opened much bigger with $36 million. It seemed poised to make the $100 million mark, but it dropped big and ended with $90 million. Still, it was a star making turn for The Rock.

A small hit for April was the excellent drama, Changing Lanes. The movie went on to make $66 million. However, big disappointments were Life or Something Like It ($14 million), Murder by Numbers ($31 million) and Big Trouble ($7 million).

May Releases

In case you haven't heard, Spider-Man opened with an unprecedented $114 million on its opening weekend. It's true, I tell ya, and that's not all, as Spidey went on to make $395 million by the end of the first half of the year (end of June - it has since passed the $400 million mark since). Okay, so everyone already knows that Spider-Man is one of the biggest movies of all time. The movie was supposed to be just another hit, not a $400 million hit! It set records for all kinds of things including biggest opening weekend, fastest to $100, $200, $300 and in early July, $400 million. By the end of June, Spider-Man had already established itself as the fifth biggest grossing movie of all time.

Meanwhile, the movie that was supposed to be number one for the summer and year (and is better than Spider-Man) fell way below expectations. Although it had a great four day opening of $110 million, the movie (Attack of the Clones) fell faster than Spidey and had grossed $286 million by the end of June.  The movie most likely won't make it to the $300 million mark.

The other $100 million+ hit from the month of May was the political thriller, The Sum of All Fears. Although it made most of its money in June, it did premier on the last day of May. Fears had $105 million at the end of June.

Other smaller hits for May were Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron ($70 million by the end of June) and Insomnia ($63 million). The biggest disappointments were Enough ($39 million) and Deuces Wild ($6 million - and whoever came up with the idea to premier it on the same weekend as Spider-Man should see a psychiatrist. Of course the movie probably wouldn't have done much better on any other weekend).

Column Continued >>