Weekend Box Office (November 9 - 11, 2001)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND For the second straight weekend, the Disney/Pixar animated wonder Monsters, Inc. dominated the domestic box office, reaching the $100M mark in only 9 days. Accumulating dollars at a scary pace, Monsters will feel a direct impact next weekend from Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone.

Screaming up another $45.5M according to final figures, Monsters, Inc. easily outpaced all other films this weekend. Falling only 27% from last weekend, Monsters total now stands at $122.2M. Looking at other films that opened this year to $60M+ openings, The Mummy Returns opened with $68.1M and had a 10 day cume of $118M, on its way to a total gross of $202M. Planet of the Apes opened with $68.5M and had a 10 day gross of $123.7M, on its way to a total cume of $178.9M. And Rush Hour 2 opened with $67.4M, had a 10 day cume of $133.5M and its current overall total is $224.7M. Apes and Rush Hour 2 both opened during the summer where mid-week grosses are stronger, while Mummy Returns opened just before the summer box office season, much like Monsters opened up just before the holiday box office season. All three previous films also dropped over 50% in their second weekend, showing that Monsters could have much stronger legs and end up with a cume in the $250M range. But a lot of that depends on the hit Monsters might take against next weekend's monster (no pun intended) release, Harry Potter.

Opening in second place this weekend was the Farrelly Brothers' comedy, Shallow Hal. Starring Gwyneth Paltrow and Jack Black, the 20th Century Fox release took in a beefy $22.5M. Playing in 2771 theaters, Hal averaged a strong $8,127 per theater and had a good 26% Friday to Saturday increase. Hal, which came under attack for making fun of fat people, opened very close to another Farrelly Brothers picture, Me, Myself and Irene. That film opened in June of 2000 with $24.2M on its way to a total cume of $90.6M. Hal might see itself to a total gross of $60-70M.

Landing in third place was the not-so-aptly named The One. The Jet Li futuristic action film kickboxed its way to $9.1M this weekend, bringing its total to $31.9M. Falling 52% from last weekend, the film, originally scheduled to star WWF Superstar The Rock, averaged $3,144 per theater, and looks to finish its run with around $45M. The $52% drop was similar to Li's previous starring efforts, Kiss of the Dragon and Romeo Must Die, which fell 55% and 48% respectively in their second weekends. Dragon finished with a cume of $37M, while Romeo finished with $56M. In fourth place this weekend was the John Travolta thriller Domestic Disturbance. The Paramount release fell 38% to $8.6M, bringing its cume to $26.2M. Disturbance should end its run with around $40M.

The other new wide release this weekend was the Gene Hackman-Danny DeVito action thriller, Heist. Opening in 1891 theaters, Heist stole $7.8M, for a decent per theater average of $4,135. Other Franchise pictures released by Warner Brothers include Battlefield Earth ($11.5M opening, $21.4M total), Get Carter ($6.6M, $14.9M), 3000 Miles to Graceland ($7.1M, $15.7M) and Angel Eyes ($9.2M, $24M). Heist might find its way to a total of $25M.

Falling from another planet, K-Pax ate up $6.4M this weekend, bringing its total to $40.3M. Also in its third weekend, the horror film 13 Ghosts scared up another $4.45M, bringing its total to $34M. The Kevin Kline drama Life as a House expanded nationwide from 88 theaters to 1,288 sites this weekend and raised $3.8M. Averaging a less than expected $2,853 per theater, House's total cume now stands at $5.1M.

Rounding out the top 10 this weekend was the Drew Barrymore coming-of-age film Riding in Cars with Boys, which brought in $2.1M, bringing its cume to $27.8M, and Denzel Washington's Oscar bait, Training Day, which arrested another $2M, bringing its total to a solid $72.6M.

Compared to projections, the Guru was off with his $15M forecast of Shallow Hal, but almost dead on with his $44M projection for Monsters, Inc., and his $7M projection for Heist.

Take this week's Reader Survey on the box office potential of Monsters, Inc. Read the NEW Weekly Rewind column which lists the biggest opening weekend grosses of all time. For a review of Monsters, Inc. and Shallow Hal visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday for a complete top 20 list, and Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when the highly anticipated and potential record-breaker Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone opens nationwide.

# Title Nov 9 - 11 Nov 2 - 5 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Dist.
1 Monsters, Inc. $ 45,551,028 $ 62,577,067 -27.2 3,269 2 13,934 $ 122,150,373 Buena Vista
2 Shallow Hal 22,518,295 2,770 1 8,129 22,518,295 Fox
3 The One 9,102,733 19,112,404 -52.4 2,894 2 3,145 31,914,334 Sony
4 Domestic Disturbance 8,640,422 14,033,112 -38.4 2,910 2 2,969 26,177,608 Paramount
5 Heist 7,823,521 1,891 1 4,137 7,823,521 Warner Bros.
6 K-Pax 6,387,970 10,065,475 -36.5 2,581 3 2,475 41,444,110 Universal
7 Thirteen Ghosts 4,445,351 7,875,510 -43.6 2,351 3 1,891 34,274,325 Warner Bros.
8 Life as a House 3,818,623 584,715 553.1 1,288 3 2,965 5,060,246 New Line
9 Riding in Cars with Boys 2,105,466 4,056,350 -48.1 2,182 4 965 27,771,372 Sony
10 Training Day 2,023,429 3,052,422 -33.7 1,407 6 1,438 72,608,774 Warner Bros.
11 From Hell 1,943,452 3,504,412 -44.5 1,389 3 1,399 29,333,955 Fox
12 Serendipity 1,616,843 2,393,304 -32.4 1,342 5 1,205 45,823,120 Miramax
13 Bandits 1,505,615 2,824,822 -46.7 1,483 4 1,015 38,576,375 MGM
14 The Man Who Wasn't There 1,015,856 664,404 52.9 169 1 6,011 1,935,810 USA Films
15 Amelie 861,321 136,470 531.1 91 2 9,465 3,551,229 Miramax
16 The Last Castle 774,145 1,740,647 -55.5 924 3 838 17,403,764 DreamWorks
17 Bones 750,292 1,414,962 -47.0 625 2 1,200 6,835,153 New Line
18 Corky Romano 555,546 1,327,307 -58.1 748 4 743 23,023,734 Buena Vista
19 Don't Say A Word 475,586 996,959 -52.3 517 6 920 53,843,358 Fox
20 Hardball 461,375 674,314 -31.6 506 8 912 38,437,776 Paramount
Top 5 $ 93,635,999 $ 113,663,568 -17.6
Top 10 112,416,838 129,494,878 -13.2
Top 20 122,376,869 139,315,789 -12.2
Top 20 vs. 2000 122,376,869 101,318,635 20.8

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Last Updated : November 12, 2001 at 6:00PM EST