Sith Snag Second First Place Finish

May 31, 2005

It was a good Memorial Day Long Weekend. Good, but not great. The four-day weekend saw $230 million in total ticket sales, 7.2% below the record $248.7 million sold last year. The three-day weekend was even worse at $183 million, 12.5% below 2004. Year-to-date 2005 has brought in $3.248 billion in total box office revenue, which is 5.6% behind 2004's pace. On a positive note, weekday numbers are ahead of last year, which is mitigating the problem.

As expected, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith easily took top spot during both the 3-day weekend and the 4-day weekend. Friday to Saturday the final film of the Star Wars franchise earned $55.2 million, which is lower than most predictions. On the other hand, its Monday box office was slightly higher than expected, lifting the 4-day total to $70.0 million. It did beat its nearest competitor by nearly $10 million this weekend, but the same result would have only finished third in 2004. Overall, the film has an incredible $270.5 million in just 12 days, the most any film has earned at that point in its run, which puts it on pace to be the fastest film to hit $300 million.

The second and third place film swap spots depending on if you are taking Monday into account or not. The Longest Yard topped Madagascar $47.6 million to $47.2 million over the three-day weekend, but adding in Monday and its was Madagascar that took second place $61.0 million to $58.6 million. Since Madagascar earned more critical praise than The Longest Yard (55% positive to 32% positive), and its target audience is children and families, it should have better legs, and finish with $150 million to $200 million.

There were other films playing over the weekend, but they were mostly ignored by moviegoers. Monster-In-Law continues its leggy run adding $10.2 million during the 3-day weekend and $12.8 million over 4 days. Rounding out the top five was Kicking and Screaming with $5.1 million / $6.5 million.

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Filed under: Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, Madagascar, The Longest Yard, Monster-in-Law, Kicking and Screaming