Top 10 for June 3-5, 2005 Summary: Final numbers are in.
It wasn't a complete surprise that Revenge of the Sith finally relinquished its crown at the top this weekend, but
the films that did it certainly raised some eyebrows. After debuting in second and third place last weekend with
Memorial Day Weekend takes of $61 million and $58.6 million respectively, DreamWorks/PDI's
computer-animated comedy Madagascar unchained itself with $28.1 million -- falling just 40%
in its sophomore frame and bringing its ten day take to $100.3 million -- while The Longest Yard
fell 45% to $26.1 million, bringing its take to $95.8 million. Meanwhile, Episode III continued its march on the record
books piling up another impressive $25 million in its third week.
The followup to DreamWorks' Shark Tale (and playing in the widest number of theaters of any film this year at 4,142),
Madagascar looks destined to fall well below other computer-animated summer releases like
Shrek, Shrek 2 and Finding Nemo. Shrek 2 currently ranks as the third highest grossing film of all-time
domestically with $436.4 million, while Nemo ranks #12 all-time with $339.7 million.
Shrek took in $267.6 million in 2001. At its current pace, Mad looks on pace to hit
$175 million domestically, which would fall in line with the Fox/Blue Sky computer-animated hit Ice Age,
which grossed $176.3 million back in 2002.
If estimates hold, Adam Sandler's football comedy The Longest Yard will have edged out Sith for the second spot
with an estimated $26.1 million, bringing the $82 million budgeted Paramount pic's ten-day take to $95.8 million. At its current pace,
Yard should reach atleast $150 million, making it one of the highest grossing films of Sander's career (1999's Big Daddy
is still tops with $163 million).
The Russell Crowe starrer Cinderella Man -- the film many industry analysts thought would trump Sith this weekend --
finished a disappointing fourth behind last weekend's top three films, averaging a solid $6,620 in 2,812 theaters. Released by Universal
and budgeted at $88 million, the Ron Howard-directed boxing biopic received a positive welcoming from critics (82% "fresh" rating
from critics polled by Rottentomatoes.com). However, marketing for the film proved to be quite challenging for Universal,
opening in the shadow of last year's Oscar-winner for Best Film, Best Director and Best Actress Million Dollar Baby.
The Depression-era boxing drama fell short of the opening for 2003's Depression-era horse-racing drama Seabiscuit, which
opened in July with $20.9 million on its way to $120.3 million domestically. If word of mouth is strong, look for Cinderella Man
to finish with $100-110 million domestically.
Another weekend and another record eaten up by Star Wars III: Revenge of the Sith. This time, the George Lucas-directed
picture became the fastest film ever to $300 million, surpassing the milestone in just its 17th day of release.
The previous record-holder had been last May's Shrek 2, which reached the mark in 18 days on its way to $441.2 milion
domestically and $918 million worldwide. Spider-Man 2 reached $300 million in its 19th day of release, while the original
Spider-Man took 22 days. At this point back in June of 2002, Star Wars II: Attack of the Clones
had fallen 56% to $21 million and $232 million total. In 19 days of release, Revenge of the Sith has now become the 19th highest grossing
film of all-time, just behind both Episode II: Attack of the Clones and Episode VI: Return of the Jedi with $310.6m and $309.1m respectively.
Worldwide, Sith has now accumulated $616.2 million.
Two other newcomers rounded out the top six, with Warner's teen-girl pic The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants
finishing in fifth with an estimated $10.2 million and $14 million since its Wednesday launch, and Sony's disappointing
launch of Lords of Dogtown with an estimated $5.7 million.
Out of the top ten after its fifth week of release was Fox's $140 million budgeted Crusades epic
Kingdom of Heaven, which fell 63% to an estimated $625,000. Its domestic cume now stands at
just $46.1 million. However, much like Troy and The Last Samurai, international ticket sales have been much stronger,
with Kingdom bringing in more than $150 million to date.
Despite three newcomers and solid showings by the top three films, the top ten grossed an estimated $127 million, down
a substantial 30% from last year's comparable frame when Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban debuted with a June record
$93.7 million.
