Weekend Box Office (November 7 - 9, 2003)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND  As expected, The Matrix Revolutions led the box office this weekend, but with far less than hoped for, while two other films opened strongly.

Opening at Zero Hour on Wednesday, The Matrix Revolutions took in $48.4M over the Friday-to-Sunday period, and $83.8M since opening day.  The weekend total was 47% less than the opening weekend of The Matrix Reloaded, which bowed to $91.7M over the three day weekend, and a stunning $134M over its first four days (including night before previews).  Revolutions per screen average was $13,842, or 45.6% less than Reloaded's opening weekend average of $25,471.  It feels odd to say that an opening just south of $50M is disappointing, but with this being the final chapter in a popular trilogy, Warner Brothers must have been hoping for a larger opening weekend and can only hope that word of mouth helps propel Revolutions in the weeks to come.  Overall, the $48.4M debut places Revolutions 34th on the all-time opening weekend chart, just ahead of Scary Movie 3 from a couple of weeks ago.

Breaking down Revolutions take day-by-day, it bowed to $24,311,365 on Wednesday, fell 54.7% to $11,003,481 on Thursday, then took in $16,529,521 on Friday, rose 18% to $19,524,728 on Saturday, and dropped 36% to $12,420,905 on Sunday.  Worldwide, Revolutions had the strongest five-day opening in history with a combined take of $201.4M from just over 10,000 theaters in 109 markets.

Opening strongly in second place was the New Line release, Elf with a total of $31.1M.  The Will Ferrell-led holiday comedy had a per screen average of $9,324, and with both critics and audiences giving it high marks, Elf should hold on strong throughout the rest of the season.

Also opening very strongly this weekend in sixth place was the Universal ensemble Love Actually, which debuted with $6.88M, from only 576 screens, for an average of a powerful $11,955.  The film, which stars Hugh Grant, Emma Thompson, Liam Neeson and Keira Knightley, among others, skewed towards an older, female audience as 71% of the filmgoers were over 30, and 69% were female.  Love Actually adds an additional 600 theaters next weekend.

Landing in third place was last weekend's runner-up, Disney's Brother Bear, which brought in $18.5M this weekend, a drop of only 4.5%.  Its cume now stands at $44M and looks to end its run in the $100-110M range, with a good chance of going even higher if it can hold up well during the Thanksgiving season.

In fourth place was two-time champ Scary Movie 3, which fell 46% to $10.8M, bringing its cume to $93M.  After its third weekend, the original Scary Movie was at $116.4M, on its way to a final total of $157M, while Scary Movie 2 was at $61.8M, on its way to $71.3M.

In fifth was the feel-good story of Radio, which took in $7.2M this weekend, a small drop of 25% from last weekend.  Its cume now stands at $36.1M.  Three films battled it out for the 7th, 8th and 9th spots this weekend.  When the dust settled and the final numbers were counted, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre buzzed by Mystic River and Runaway Jury.  Massacre collected $4.9M, bringing its cume to $73.3M, Mystic took in $4.78M, bringing its total to $40.4M, and Jury corraled $4.67M, with its verdict now standing at just a shade under $40M.

Rounding out the top ten in its 6th weekend of release was the Jack Black rock n' roll comedy, School of Rock, which brought in an additional $3M this weekend, bringing its cume to $73.4M.

Compared to projections, The Matrix Revolutions failed to live up to my bullish forecast of $80M, while Elf debuted stronger than my $20M prediction.

The top ten was up 11.7% from last year when Eminem's 8 Mile topped the charts with a $51.2M opening, and up 24.9% from 2001 when Monsters, Inc. remained at number one in its second weekend with $45.5M.

For a review of The Matrix Revolutions, visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back Thursday for detailed analysis for next weekend as Looney Tunes: Back in Action and Master and Commander both invade the box office.

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

# Title Nov 7 - 9 Oct 31 - Nov 2 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 The Matrix Revolutions $ 48,475,154 3,502 1 $ 13,842 $ 83,790,000 Warner Bros.
2 Elf 31,113,501 3,337 1 9,324 31,113,501 New Line
3 Brother Bear 18,526,927 19,404,492 -4.5 3,030 3 6,114 44,022,400 Buena Vista
4 Scary Movie 3 10,812,152 20,017,468 -46.0 3,288 3 3,288 93,057,613 Miramax
5 Radio 7,215,307 9,638,693 -25.1 2,811 3 2,567 36,127,668 Sony
6 Love Actually 6,886,080 576 1 11,955 6,886,080 Universal
7 The Texas Chainsaw Massacre 4,939,582 10,818,401 -54.3 2,378 4 2,077 73,361,552 New Line
8 Mystic River 4,787,247 6,232,376 -23.2 1,581 5 3,028 40,435,817 Warner Bros.
9 Runaway Jury 4,671,818 6,525,082 -28.4 2,133 4 2,190 39,996,753 Fox
10 School of Rock 3,026,851 4,522,814 -33.1 1,982 6 1,527 73,472,323 Paramount
11 Kill Bill Vol. 1 2,322,779 4,529,607 -48.7 1,681 5 1,382 64,797,396 Miramax
12 In The Cut 971,409 2,063,361 -52.9 825 3 1,177 3,935,912 Sony
13 Lost in Translation 942,992 1,233,218 -23.5 380 9 2,482 26,244,243 Focus
14 Intolerable Cruelty 913,915 2,499,805 -63.4 672 5 1,360 33,514,880 Universal
15 Under the Tuscan Sun 820,909 1,694,685 -51.6 574 7 1,430 41,258,112 Buena Vista
16 Good Boy! 763,070 2,262,583 -66.3 1,274 5 599 36,585,101 MGM
17 The Human Stain 762,379 1,034,195 -26.3 187 2 4,077 2,177,471 Miramax
18 Pirates of the Caribbean 664,433 433,278 53.4 472 18 1,408 302,609,731 Buena Vista
19 Out of Time 451,422 1,082,591 -58.3 506 6 892 40,092,217 MGM
20 The Gospel of John 347,745 164,369 111.6 92 7 3,780 1,398,681 ThinkFilm
Top 5 $ 116,143,041 $ 66,420,827 74.9
Top 10 140,454,619 86,468,012 62.4
Top 20 149,415,672 97,222,724 53.7
Top 20 vs. 2002 149,415,672 138,245,914 8.1

Last Updated : November 10, 2003 at 8:30PM EST