Sith Shatters Records, Jump-Starts Summer

May 23, 2005

Wow, what a difference a week makes. What could have been the slowest summer in many, many years finally turned around thanks to Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith. The total box office was more than $160 million, up 60% from last weekend, but with the 13th week in a row there was a year-to-year decline, this time at 4.8%. Year to date, 2005 has now brought in $2.951 billion, which is 6% lower than the same time last year.

Of the ten records I discussed earlier, Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith has already broken four and tied another while missing only one (and it came in second place on that one).

  1. Largest midnight showing - New Record: $16.9 million
  2. Largest Opening Day - New Record: $50.1 million
  3. Largest Single Day - New Record: $50.1 million
  4. Fastest to $100 million - Tied Record: 3 days
  5. Largest Weekend - Second Place: $108.5 million
  6. Largest 4-Day Opening - New Record: $158.4 million

And it still has a shot at beating the other four records as long as its legs are strong. Speaking of which, reaction from the fans and critics has been very impressive and with Memorial Day next weekend the film should have a very, very strong showing. (Another record, Best Second Weekend, is not out of the question.) Star Wars: Revenge of the Sith is beating all but the most extreme expectations and is already the second highest grossing film of the year and should continue climbing the All-Time Charts for quite some time.

That performance was so strong the rest of the top five seems like an afterthought.

Monster-In-Law held up slightly better than expected, adding $14.4 million to its box office over the weekend.

Kicking and Screaming wasn't so lucky, falling all the way to $10.7 million meaning it probably won't be profitable until it hits Pay-Per-View or later.

Crash remains unstoppable with $5.5 million this weekend, barely more than a 20% drop-off.

On the other hand, Unleashed couldn't handle the competition, plummeting to just $4.1 million.

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Filed under: Star Wars Ep. III: Revenge of the Sith, Monster-in-Law, Crash, Kicking and Screaming, Danny the Dog