LOS ANGELES - The final film in the X-Men superhero trilogy blew past last weekend's box office champ, The Da Vinci Code, to post the fourth-highest all-time opening in North America, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
The movie news
X-Men: The Last Stand sold about $107 million worth of tickets in the three-day period from Friday to Sunday, said distributor 20th Century Fox. The News Corp.-owned studio said it hoped the film would open near the $86 million bow of its 2003 predecessor X2: X-Men United.
By contrast, Da Vinci Code opened with $77 million a week ago, the highest bow so far this year. The Vatican conspiracy thriller slipped to No. 2, but sales data were not available as most studios were planning to report estimates for the U.S. Memorial Day holiday weekend on Monday.
However, Da Vinci Code distributor Columbia Pictures said the film earned $92 million in most foreign territories, and enjoyed strong holds in such countries as Germany and Japan. The international total stands at $320 million. As of Thursday evening, the film had earned $102 million in North America.
Columbia, a unit of Sony Corp. said its film earned more overseas than X-Men, which also opened internationally on Friday, but neither Columbia nor Fox had any foreign data for the new arrival.
The three-day record for a film opening on a Friday is held by 2002's Spider-Man ($115 million), followed by 2005's Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith ($108.4 million) and 2004's Shrek 2 ($108 million).
Fox said X-Men: The Last Stand cost about $165 million to make. The studio licensed the comic book franchise from Marvel Entertainment Inc. The first film in the series, "X-Men" opened to $54 million in 2000, and went on to earn $157 million. The sequel finished with $215 million.
The new film, whose returning cast of mutants includes Hugh Jackman as the heroic Wolverine and Ian McKellen as the evil Magneto, was directed by Brett Ratner, best known for the Rush Hour films. It had its world premiere at the Cannes Film Festival last week, and earned rave reviews--unlike Da Vinci Code.
In addition to taking over from Da Vinci Code as the highest opening so far this year, the new X-Men beats the nine-year-old Memorial Day weekend record held by The Lost World: Jurassic Park, which opened to $72 million during its first three days. Steven Spielberg's dinosaur picture earned an additional $18 million during the Monday holiday.
Projections for the four-day period will be released on Monday, and final data on Tuesday.
Viacom Inc.'s Paramount Pictures said it took the No. 3 and No. 4 places with the barnyard cartoon Over the Hedge ($27.3 million) and the Tom Cruise thriller Mission: Impossible III ($6.6 million), respectively. Their totals rose to $85.3 million after two weeks and $115.5 million after four weeks, respectively.
Copyright 2006 Reuters.http://www.reuters.com.
Monday, May 29, 2006
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