April
First of all, there
was one big hit in the month of April. The
Scorpion King managed to make quite
a nice profit in the two weeks leading
up to early summer (Spider-Man). It
opened with an incredible $36 million,
making it the biggest opening ever in
the month of April. TSK actually opened
bigger than two of the three movies that
opened huge in the previous month (Blade
II - $32.5 million and Panic Room - $30
million and Ice Age opened with $46
million). And surprisingly, the movie
starring The Rock dropped only about 50%
in its second weekend and currently
stands at just over $60 million, already
covering the $60 million budget. The
problem is that it could drop another
50% in its third weekend, as most of its
intended audience will flock to see
Spider-Man. Still, it looks like The
Rock will have his first $100 million
hit as the star. All that talk about him
being the next Arnold doesn't seem so
far fetched.
Changing Lanes
has turned into a nice little hit. The
movie opened number one and had
accumulated $44 million by the end of
its third weekend. The R-rated movie
starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben
Affleck received great reviews and was
by far the best movie that came out in
the month of April (I gave it an A). The
movie could continue to do well, as
older audiences would rather see a grown
up film than the flashy Spider-Man and
later AOTC. Changing Lanes could end
with around $75 million.
I turned out to be wrong
about both Jason X and Life or
Something Like It, as both movies
opened to pathetic numbers (both made
under $7 million on their opening
weekend) and neither movie will make it
to $25 million. My prediction for
High Crimes was pretty close, as the
movie should end its run with around $45
million. Sandra Bullock's new movie was
murdered by its box office numbers. The
movie opened pretty low and will
probably end with about $40 million.
Two other
disappointments at the box office were
Van Wilder and Frailty
(although Frailty opened in a small
amount of theaters). Both will end with
under $25 million. Some of the holdovers
from March continued to do well in
April. Ice Age grossed an
additional $50 million in April and
should end up with $185 million.
Blade II will most likely end with
about $85 million. The Jodie
Foster/David Fincher film, Panic Room
sat at almost $88 million at the end of
April and will just barely cross the
$100 million mark before leaving
theaters.
The Rookie is a
hit! Slowly, but surely, the movie crept
its way past $50 million and is still
going (from weekend to weekend, the
movie continually had the lowest
percentage drop of all movies). At the
end of April its total stands at about
$60 million and could end with about $80
million. Which means that the movie will
make about five times its opening
weekend; something you don't see too
often. Lord of the Rings finally
managed to crawl its way into the top
ten domestic grosses where it
belongs. Its total now stands at $308
million. Next up at #9 is Return of the
Jedi with $309 million. Unfortunately,
LOTR won't pass that boy wizard (Harry
Potter) which has made $317 million
for #7 on the domestic list.
Column Continued >>