Angels Set to Soar Above the Rest

June 27, 2003

With only one truly wide opening this weekend, predicting which movie will win is very easy.

Charlie’s Angels: Full Throttle will come in first, and probably double its nearest competitor. The original opened way back in 2000 with a $40 million opening. As with many sequels these days, expect Full Throttle to open bigger and drop faster. $55 million for an opening weekend, but a final total that’s not much more than the first. Reviews won’t have much of an effect on this movie’s box office, which is good news for the studio cause they are mostly bad. It managed only 41% positive on Rotten Tomatoes, that’s 27 percentage points below the original. Another movie that will open big then fall fast.

Speaking of falling fast, The Hulk appears ready to challenge 2 Fast 2 Furious’ record for largest second weekend drop for a number one movie. From Friday to Thursday The Hulk lost 83.2% of its daily box office; in comparison 2 Fast 2 Furious lost 83.6%. However, 2 Fast didn’t have as strong competition its second weekend out. At this point, anything less than a 60% drop would be is better than expected. The Hulk will pull in just shy of $24 million.

Another week, another milestone for Finding Nemo. This time around it’s passing the $250 million mark, which it could do as early as Saturday. The weekday numbers are starting to show signs of weakening, but that’s to be expected for a movie that’s been out nearly a month. $13 million this weekend is a safe prediction. On a side note, by Tuesday Finding Nemo should beat Monsters Inc. to become the highest grossing Pixar movie.

The only other movie to open in more than just a few cities is 28 Days Later. Opening in only 1258 theatres will limit this movie’s initial draw at the box office. But with very strong reviews this could be the sleeper hit of the summer. Other predictions for this movie range from less than $5 million to over $8 million, but I’m going to be bold and prediction $9 million with lots of legs as well.

Rounding out the top five will be Bruce Almighty, with $6.5 million. This Jim Carrey flick is unlikely to cross anymore major milestones, but it will be in the top 40 all-time when the weekend it over.

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Filed under: Hulk, Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle, 28 Days Later…, 2 Fast 2 Furious