Weekend Box Office (May 31 - June 2, 2002)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND The latest installment of the Jack Ryan series, The Sum of All Fears exploded onto the box office charts at number one this weekend, while two-time champ Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones fell to number two. Spider-Man set another record while Undercover Brother took it to The Man and landed at number four.

Opening at number one with $31.2M, according to final studio figures, was the Paramount release The Sum of All Fears starring Ben Affleck as Jack Ryan, a role previously played by Alec Baldwin and Harrison Ford. Fears opened in 3,183 theaters and had a per-theater average of $9,795. Fears opened stronger than the previous Jack Ryan films, as The Hunt for Red October opened with $17.2M, Patriot Games opened with $18.5M and Clear and Present Danger opened with $20.3M. Reviews for the film, which deals with a terrorist attack on the United States, were mixed, but viewers gave the film a positive B+/A- rating according to CinemaScore.com.

Falling into second place was Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones with $21M, down a disturbing 56% from last weekend's 3-day total. In comparison, The Phantom Menace dropped 36% the weekend following Memorial Day, albeit with less competition. The total for Clones now stands at $232.3M.

Still spinning a web of records, the Sony blockbuster Spider-Man added another $14.3M to its robust box office this weekend. Crashing the $350M barrier in only 31 days, Spider-Man crushed the previous record of 40 days held by The Phantom Menace from back in 1999. Spider-Man's total cume now stands at $353.8M and should overtake Jurassic Park's $357.1M for number five on the all-time domestic blockbuster list sometime this week.

The other new film opening this week was the blaxplotation spoof Undercover Brother. Starring Eddie Griffin and Denise Richards, the Universal release took $12M from The Man this weekend, for a per-theater average of a promising $5,555. Brother opened stronger than another genre send-up, Austin Powers, which opened in May of 1997 with $9.5M on its way to a total cume of $53.8M.

Falling to fifth place was the DreamWorks animated film Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron, which roped in $11.3M. Its 36% decline was the lowest in the top ten and its total now stands at $38.8M. Insomnia, starring a trio of Oscar winners, came in at number six, falling a troubling 53% from last weekend to $9.9M. Its total is $41.6M. At number seven this weekend was the Jennifer Lopez thriller Enough which fought its way to $6.8M, bringing its cume to $27.1M.

In eighth place was the Hugh Grant starrer About a Boy which took in another $4.1M for a drop of 48% from last weekend's 3-day gross. Its total now stands at $27.8M. In ninth place was the Richard Gere/Diane Lane film Unfaithful, which brought in $2.9M, bringing its total to $45.7M. And landing in tenth place was another comedy starring Eddie Griffin, The New Guy. Adding another $1.4M to its total, the cume for the film now stands at $26.8M.

The top ten films grossed $115.1M which was down 4% from last year when Pearl Harbor remained at number one with $29.6M; and up 21% from 2000 when Mission: Impossible 2 stayed in the top spot with $27M.

Compared to projections, The Sum of All Fears opened slightly above Gitesh Pandya's $28M prediction, while Undercover Brother opened slightly below his $15M prediction.

Take this week's NEW Reader Survey on Bad Company. For a review of The Sum of All Fears visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Bad Company and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood both open.

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

# Title May 31 - Jun 2 May 24 - 26 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 The Sum of All Fears $ 31,178,526 3,183 1 $ 9,795 $ 31,178,526 Paramount
2 Star Wars Episode II 21,002,876 47,880,532 -56.1 3,161 3 6,644 232,324,769 Fox
3 Spider-Man 14,317,411 28,508,104 -49.8 3,646 5 3,927 353,823,544 Sony
4 Undercover Brother 12,037,685 2,167 1 5,555 12,037,685 Universal
5 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron 11,303,814 17,770,036 -36.4 3,362 2 3,362 38,750,089 DreamWorks
6 Insomnia 9,945,321 20,928,419 -52.5 2,610 2 3,810 41,612,802 Warner Bros.
7 Enough 6,808,026 14,009,653 -51.4 2,623 2 2,596 27,148,463 Sony
8 About A Boy 4,126,600 7,862,150 -47.5 1,756 3 2,350 27,846,180 Universal
9 Unfaithful 2,942,606 6,098,861 -51.8 1,701 4 1,730 45,674,344 Fox
10 The New Guy 1,415,261 4,410,899 -67.9 1,676 4 844 26,818,276 Sony
11 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 910,901 1,230,778 -26.0 236 6 3,860 8,863,863 IFC Films
12 The Importance of Being Earnest 773,913 396,662 95.1 147 2 5,265 1,428,186 Miramax
13 The Scorpion King 594,080 1,432,485 -58.5 752 7 790 88,876,580 Universal
14 Space Station 548,459 50 7 10,969 6,196,927 Imax
15 Changing Lanes 437,413 1,581,718 -72.3 758 8 577 65,249,207 Paramount
16 The Rookie 331,631 755,875 -56.1 435 9 762 72,544,400 Buena Vista
17 Y Tu Mama Tambien 324,415 479,649 -32.4 175 11 1,854 11,597,315 IFC Films
18 Monsters, Inc. 312,742 460,779 -32.1 282 31 1,109 254,252,781 Buena Vista
19 Monsoon Wedding 253,994 378,911 -33.0 170 14 1,494 11,485,102 USA Films
20 Enigma 224,674 340,642 -34.0 100 7 2,247 2,065,812 Manhattan
Top 5 $ 89,840,312 $ 129,098,494 -30.4
Top 10 115,078,126 150,484,607 -23.5
Top 20 119,790,348 155,616,602 -23.0
Top 20 vs. 2001 119,790,348 123,779,355 -3.2

Last Updated : June 4, 2002 at 1:30AM EDT