Box-Office Report Weekend March 29 -31, 2002

During a record Easter weekend that had four films open in wide release, Sony's "Panic Room" locked in a sterling estimate of $30.2 million and easily secured the top spot. It was the biggest opening ever during the Easter holiday, topping Warner Bros.' "The Matrix," which debuted with $27.8 million in 1999. The film's opening was a personal best for Jodie Foster, the film's star, as well as for helmer David Fincher.

20th Century Fox's "Ice Age" had another hot session -- especially considering the competition for the family audience this weekend -- as the CG animated picture thawed an estimated $18.6 million, bringing the cume to around $117.3 million in 17 days. "Ice Age" crossed the $100 million mark on Friday and is the first film released in 2002 to reach that level.

Buena Vista's "The Rookie," starring Dennis Quaid and directed by John Lee Hancock, debuted in the third slot with an estimate of a solid $15.8 million. The opening gross for G-rated baseball-set drama, based on a true story, was the largest ever for Quaid and at the top end of expectations.

The sophomore weekend for New Line's "Blade II" took a steep 59% drop from its debut but staked out an estimated $13.2 million nonetheless. The Wesley Snipes starrer has picked up about $54.9 million in 10 days.

Another debut this weekend was Paramount's "Clockstoppers," from Nickelodeon Movies, which opened in fifth with $10.1 million. The PG-rated teen sci-fi comedy, helmed by Jonathan Frakes, carried an estimated negative cost of a relatively mild $26 million.

Overall, it was another sizzling weekend at the boxoffice in North America as the estimate for the top 12 films was up a robust 39% from the comparable frame a year ago. As a result, the national boxoffice for the year-to-date has crossed the $2 billion mark at the earliest point ever -- three weeks faster than 2001's record pace.

The second weekend of Universal's "E.T. The Extraterrestrial" was soft as the 20th Anniversary Edition placed sixth and took in an estimated $6.1 million, down a precipitous 57% from its debut, moving its cume to roughly $24.3 million after 10 days in release.

Warner Bros.' "Death to Smoochy," a dark comedy starring Edward Norton and Robin Williams and directed by Danny DeVito, was the poorest performer of the weekend's new arrivals. The R-rated film took in an estimated $4.3 million from 2,164 theaters to place seventh.

The boxoffice bounce from the Oscars was clearly in evidence as Universal's "A Beautiful Mind" landed in eighth with an estimated $4 million, down a scant 2% from a week ago while adding 105 new theaters. The winner for best picture and best director has amassed approximately $161 million to date.

New Line's "Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring," another Oscar contender, was 12th with an estimated $2.3 million, down 3%, impressive considering the film lost 197 theaters. The epic tale passed the $300 million mark during the weekend to become the second film released in 2001 to do so -- Warner Bros.' "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" being the first -- as its total reached an estimated $301.2 million.

Lions Gate's "Monster's Ball," for which Halle Berry picked up an Oscar for best actress, also received the bounce as the drama was up a strong 35% from last weekend. The Billy Bob Thornton starrer took in an estimated $2.1 million and added 132 theaters, bringing its total to about $23 million.

Executives at Sony were thrilled with the returns from "Panic Room" this weekend. "I think it exceeded everybody's expectations," Columbia Pictures president of worldwide marketing and distribution Jeff Blake said. "It was R-rated and adults don't always come out the first weekend, but we got a good mix of young adults as well, which should help us in the coming weeks."

"Panic Room," which had a negative cost of about $48 million, skewed slightly more female than male with 54%, while 60% of the audience was older than 25 years of age. "A $30 million opening works great on a medium budget film like this -- it was a thriller with a great pedigree," Blake said.

The strong returns for the debut of "The Rookie" had executives at Buena Vista in good spirits, "You don't have to be a baseball fan to love this movie," Buena Vista Pictures distribution president Chuck Viane said. "From everything we know, this is the largest opening ever for a baseball-themed picture."

"The story itself and the extremely positive word of mouth generated by the sneaks helped the film get to nearly $16 million. We were very thrilled that the movie delivered on our expectations," Viane said.

Artisan's "National Lampoon's Van Wilder" had roughly 700 sneaks on Saturday and generated positive marks in the exits. The comedy received 80% in the top two boxes and 70% definite recommends, according to the distributor. Theaters were at 75%-90% capacity, the predominant age group was 18-34 and male attendees made up 60% of the audience. "Van Wilder" opens in more than 2,000 theaters this coming weekend.

In the world of limited releases, UA's "No Such Thing" debuted in nine locations and took in an estimated $29,000. The drama-fantasy from American Zoetrope, starring Sarah Polley and helmed and written by Hal Hartley, averaged $3,222 per theater.

Think Film's "Time Out" opened in two locales in New York and grossed an estimated $24,000, which translates to a promising $12,000 per-theater average. Robbie Chaftiz helmed the psychological drama.

IFC Film's "Y Tu Mama Tambien" grossed an estimated $350,039 in its third weekend, averaging a solid $6,864 per theater from 51 venues in Los Angeles and New York, upping its cume to about $1.6 million. The distributor will be adding roughly 120 theaters this coming weekend.

Fox Searchlight's "Kissing Jessica Stein" added 65 sites, bringing the total to 131, and grossed an estimated $710,000, for a per-theater average of $5,420. The cume to date is about $2 million.

The estimated total for this weekend's top 12 films was $114.4 million, topping the previous high of $91.5 million for the holiday, which was racked up during the Easter frame two years ago when the holiday fell on April 23. Last year's Easter weekend (April 15) generated $89.8 million at the boxoffice. The Hollywood Reporter projects the total for all films this weekend to be in the mid-to-high $120 million area, up substantially from last year's $96.6 million for the comparable calendar frame.

For the week ending March 28, the national boxoffice was up 70% from the comparable seven-day period a year ago ($192.9 million vs. $113.7 million), helping push the year-to-date total to a nearly 14% lead ($1.93 billion vs. $1.70 billion). Estimated admissions have jumped nearly 9% over last year's pace.

"Panic Room," $30.2 million.
"Ice Age," $18.6 million.
"The Rookie," $15.8 million.
"Blade II," $13.2 million.
"Clockstoppers," $10.1 million.
"E.T. the Extra-Terrestrial," $6.1 million.
"Deathy to Smoochy," $4.3 million.
"A Beautiful Mind," $4 million.
"We Were Soldiers," $3.53 million.
"Showtime," $3.5 million.

March box-office one for the 'Ages'

Led by the scorching revenue generated by 20th Century Fox's "Ice Age," the films of March 2002 have reserved a place in the history books as the month racked up an extraordinary $660.8 million at the national boxoffice -- marking an incredible 45% increase on March of 2001. Estimated admissions followed suit as they notched a 39% gain on last year's comparable frame.

It's the first time the $600 million mark has been surpassed at the boxoffice for March -- in fact; it's the first time the $500 million has been exceeded. Prior to this year, the highest gross on record for the comparable period in March was $482.7 million, which was posted in 2000 when Universal's "Erin Brockovich" was the top film in theaters. This year's sensational boxoffice total is a stellar 37% higher than the previous record high for the month.

But more important, estimated admissions reached record levels as well. Estimated ticket units for March were in step with the boxoffice as admissions tallied 113.9 million, compared with 81.8 million a year ago -- an increase of more than 30 million.

This marks only the second time more than 100 million admissions have been logged for the month. The previous high for admissions in March was recorded in 1997, when 102.5 million ticket units were counted and Universal's "Liar Liar" was the boxoffice leader. Up until this year, admissions for March had been in a steady four-year decline since 1997, reaching its low point last year.

March of 1997 had the added benefit of having the Easter holiday fall at one of its earliest points on the calendar and was included in that year's totals. In the five years since, the Easter holiday has fallen later on the calendar and consequently its boxoffice has not been included in the March totals for those years.

More good news, the solid performances at the boxoffice and ticket window of late looks to be a result of quality rather than quantity of product. As compared with 2001, there were four fewer films released in 2002, with 26 and 22, respectively.

The month of March is a microcosm of the winter boxoffice season (HR, 3/26) -- fewer films generating higher grosses from fewer theaters. During the last two weekends of the March period, the boxoffice was higher than the comparable periods in 2001 by more than 60% each weekend -- an industry first.

For the year to date, March has turned in the best performance at the boxoffice and ticket window by far. Both January and February of 2002 notched record highs in boxoffice, but that was due mostly to slightly higher ticket prices, as admission counts had to settle for third and fourth best, respectively. The boxoffice records set in January and February were only modest gains, 3% and 2%, respectively, on the previous highs for the months.

Strong new product was at the heart of the upsurge in boxoffice receipts in March. Of the month's 10 highest grossing films, only two were holdovers, and four had been in the market 14 days or less.

The aggregate cume for those top 10 films was $421.7 million -- up 42% from last year's $297.1 million total for the comparable period. Also worthy of note, six films in this year's top 10 grossed more than $31 million each, compared with only two a year ago.

The projections for boxoffice and admissions come from The Hollywood Reporter's exclusive national survey. The survey period this year is comprised of the four weeks ending March 28.

"Ice Age" was the top grossing film of March with a U.S.-Canadian total of a hot $98.7 million in just 14 days. Paramount's "We Were Soldiers" was second with $63.9 million, and DreamWorks' "The Time Machine" was third with $50.4 million.

New Line's "Blade 2" was fourth with a robust $41.7 million in a slim seven days, followed by Miramax's "40 Days and 40 Nights" with $35.5 million and the fifth spot.

Screen Gems' "Resident Evil" ($31.4 million in 14 days) was sixth, with Warner Bros.' "Showtime" ($29.8 million in 14 days) in seventh. Eighth went to a holdover, New Line's "John Q." ($25.6 million of its $68.3 million cume), followed by the Oscar's best picture, Universal's "A Beautiful Mind" ($22.7 million of a $157 million total), and New Line's "All About the Benjamins" ($22 million) took the 10th slot.