Trio of New Movies Look to be Champs

June 13, 2003

While three movies open this week, it seems likely that a holdover will hold on for top place at the box office.

Returning to first place this week will be Finding Nemo. This fish tale has again held up remarkable well during the week and should only drop by about a third at the box office. $31 million would be an impressive third weekend total and leave the movie just a few million shy of $200 million.

Coming in second place should be Hollywood Homicide, but it could be a close race between it and the next two movies. The ad campaign for this movie is a bit of a puzzle, first it was advertised as a buddy cop action comedy, much like Lethal Weapon. Now it’s being advertised as a serious crime thriller. Chances are, that means the jokes didn’t work out, and the reviews tend to support that theory. With only 32% positive it is one of the worst reviews movies in Harrison Ford’s career. Look for $22 million opener and questionable legs.

Dropping all the way to third is 2 Fast 2 Furious. This movie had dropped every day of its release till the 1.1% gain in Thursday’s numbers. And it looks to drop massively on its second weekend. It was tracking roughly 35% below Finding Nemo by the end of the week, and that trend should continue into the weekend. Which leaves the movie at $20 million this week at the box office.

Next is the second release of the week, Dumb and Dumberer. Last week we had a pseudo-sequel open, now we have a pseudo-prequel. It has different actors, different director, different writers, different producers … and much worse reviews. Still, beating the original’s opening of $16 million should be the goal this weekend, but don’t expect this movie to have anywhere near the legs. $50 million total should be as good as it gets.

Right behind is Dumb and Dumber’s star Jim Carrey’s latest movie Bruce Almighty. How’s that for a forced segue. This movie is showing great legs and should earn another $15 million this weekend. That would put it over Batman Forever for second best Jim Carrey movie. And in probably just one more week it will cross the $200 million mark.

In sixth place is the last of the movies opening wide this weekend. The Rugrats Go Wild is a crossover effort with both Rugrats and Wild Thornberrys. And while the two previous Rugrats movies did well, they no longer have the following they once had. And the first Wild Thornberrys movie under-performed at the box office to the tune of only $6 million opening weekend. Good news is The Rugrats Go Wild is the best-reviewed new opener this week, but that’s not saying much. Look for $12 million opening weekend and the last of the theatrical releases for either franchise.

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Filed under: Rugrats Go Wild, Hollywood Homicide, Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd, 2 Fast 2 Furious