Underworld Finishes the Weekend on Top at the Box Office

September 22, 2003

Like last week, the top three movies at the box office were new releases and four of the five new releases placed in the top five. The boost to the box office was very noticeable, 18.8% from last week and just shy of 30% from last year.

Underworld took top spot this week with just a shade ahead of the predicted value. With $21.8 million the $23 million Sony spent to make the movie seems like an absolute bargain. Poor reviews will probably hurt the movie's legs, but no matter how it performs from now on it will make a profit by the home market at the latest.

Also out performing expectations was Seconhand Lions, also by a very small margin. $12.1 million was just 10% more than expected, but reviews were weaker with only 57% positive. And its too early for any serious Oscar buzz to help so its final box office will probably disappoint the studio.

Essentially matching predictions was The Fighting Temptations. The movie finished in third place with $11.8 million, less than one quarter of a million dollars below predictions. Probably not enough to see any serious expansion in its theatre counts in the coming weeks, and with medicore reviews it won't be in the top five for long.

Once Upon a Time in Mexico dropped farther than expected finishing fourth with $11.0 million. This is still a good result and profitability is just around the corner.

Coming in fifth place was Cold Creek Manor with $8.2 million. This was just a little lower than predictions, and with bad reviews and a plot twist worthy more of Scooby Doo than a film aimed at adults, expect a large drop next weekend.

It seems that moviegoers were not interesting in seeing Woody Allen's words spoken by younger actors as Anything Else failed to make the top 10. Reviews didn't help and with only $1.7 million in its opening weekend, this is arguably the worst performance for one of Wood Allen's movies ever.

One film that did make the top ten was Lost in Translation. This movie's $2.6 million take was even more impressive since its theatre count is only 183. That's by far the smallest theatre count in the top ten and only one move (Mambo Italiano) had a smaller theatre count in the top 20. Lost in Translation continues to expand into more theatres next weekend and should more than double its theatre count.


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Filed under: Once Upon a Time in Mexico, Underworld, Lost in Translation, Secondhand Lions, The Fighting Temptations, Cold Creek Manor, Anything Else