Weekend Box Office (April 25 - 27, 2003)

THIS WEEKEND Sony Pictures claimed the top two spots at the North American box office with the new suspense thriller Identity and the former chart-topper Anger Management as the overall marketplace slumped to its lowest level of the year. The weekend's other new releases - Confidence, It Runs in the Family, and The Real Cancun - all flopped in their debuts.

With a final gross of $16.2M from 2,733 theaters, the John Cusack thriller Identity led the field edging out the Adam Sandler comedy by a slim $800,000. The $28M suspense pic averaged a solid $5,937 per location and earned a decent B grade from moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com. Anger Management slipped to second place collecting $15M, off 40%, which allowed the film to reach blockbuster status with a 17-day cume of $103.5M.

Displaying the best hold in the top ten was Disney's kid drama Holes which eased just 23% to $12.6M in its second weekend giving the PG-rated film a solid $36.4M in ten days. Fellow sophomore Malibu's Most Wanted fell a moderate 42% to $7.3M for a ten-day tally of $23.8M.

Ed Burns and Dustin Hoffman saw a disappointing fifth-place opening for their $15M mob caper Confidence which bowed to $4.6M from 1,871 locations for a weak $2,439 average. In its second weekend, MGM's actioner Bulletproof Monk tumbled by nearly half to $4.4M bringing its cume to $19M after ten days.

Dipping just 28% to $3.2M was the Warner Bros. teen flick What A Girl Wants which was followed by Fox's sniper thriller Phone Booth with $3M, down 47%. Cumes for each stand at $32.9M and $40.2M after 24 days.

Rounding out the top ten were two new releases which flopped in their debut outings. MGM grossed $2.8M for its Kirk Douglas-Michael Douglas pic It Runs in the Family which averaged only $2,323 from 1,207 venues. New Line fell flat on its face with the $8M spring break reality feature The Real Cancun which collected $2.1M from 2,261 theaters for a pathetic $933 average.

Four films dropped out of the top ten over the weekend. Buena Vista's Bringing Down the House slipped 37% to $2.1M in its eighth frame pushing its cume to $126.1M. The year's highest-grossing release looks to reach $130-135M. Queen Latifah's other hit Chicago dipped 37% to $1.6M giving the Miramax Oscar darling $163.5M to date. Look for a $170M final.

The Vin Diesel actioner A Man Apart plunged 57% to $1.2M lifting the total to $25.1M. The New Line title should end with $27-29M. The Lions Gate horror flick House of 1000 Corpses fell 41% to $1.5M for a $9.6M cume with an eye on $13-15M overall.

The top ten films grossed $71.2M which was up 6% from last year when The Scorpion King remained at number one with $18M; and up 41% from 2001 when Driven debuted in the top spot with $12.2M.


Compared to projections, Identity opened stronger than my $13M forecast while Confidence debuted on target with my $5M prediction. It Runs in the Family bowed close to my $4M projection while The Real Cancun opened well below my $8M forecast.

For reviews of Identity and Mr. and Mrs. Iyer visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when X2 and The Lizzie McGuire Movie fight it out for the number one spot.

Marketplace: Shop for videos, DVDs, music, books, and posters at discounted prices using search engines

# Title Apr 25 - 27 Apr 18 - 20 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Identity $ 16,225,263 2,733 1 $ 5,937 $ 16,225,263 Sony
2 Anger Management 15,006,174 25,005,588 -40.0 3,656 3 4,105 103,524,440 Sony
3 Holes 12,552,722 16,300,155 -23.0 2,349 2 5,344 36,378,174 Buena Vista
4 Malibu's Most Wanted 7,337,473 12,618,159 -41.8 2,503 2 2,931 23,840,528 Warner Bros.
5 Confidence 4,563,588 1,871 1 2,439 4,563,588 Lions Gate
6 Bulletproof Monk 4,402,635 8,653,542 -49.1 2,955 2 1,490 18,957,471 MGM
7 What A Girl Wants 3,235,190 4,503,277 -28.2 2,450 4 1,320 32,853,869 Warner Bros.
8 Phone Booth 3,007,474 5,674,565 -47.0 2,113 4 1,423 40,173,290 Fox
9 It Runs in the Family 2,804,441 1,207 1 2,323 2,804,441 MGM
10 The Real Cancun 2,108,796 2,261 1 933 2,108,796 New Line
11 Bringing Down the House 2,068,521 3,280,980 -37.0 1,668 8 1,240 126,063,177 Buena Vista
12 Chicago 1,584,015 2,501,139 -36.7 1,209 18 1,310 163,500,278 Miramax
13 Bend It Like Beckham 1,539,366 1,953,572 -21.2 421 7 3,656 9,062,896 Fox Searchlight
14 House of 1000 Corpses 1,478,398 2,522,026 -41.4 815 3 1,814 9,636,367 Lions Gate
15 A Mighty Wind 1,363,232 2,112,140 -35.5 155 2 8,795 4,750,088 Warner Bros.
16 A Man Apart 1,200,774 2,804,432 -57.2 1,235 4 972 25,105,722 New Line
17 Chasing Papi 1,193,051 2,404,557 -50.4 584 2 2,043 5,009,234 Fox
18 Better Luck Tomorrow 1,031,460 487,692 111.5 380 3 2,714 2,197,172 Paramount Classics
19 Ghosts of the Abyss (Lg. Scr) 1,013,200 1,240,099 -18.3 97 3 10,445 5,279,330 Buena Vista
20 Head of State 929,718 2,214,582 -58.0 1,006 5 924 36,382,054 DreamWorks
Top 5 $ 55,685,220 $ 68,252,009 -18.4
Top 10 71,243,756 83,863,863 -15.0
Top 20 84,645,491 99,761,438 -15.2
Top 20 vs. 2002 84,645,491 78,279,502 8.1

Last Updated : April 29, 2003 at 12:00AM EDT