Weekend Box Office (June 28 - 30, 2002)

THIS WEEKEND Adam Sandler began what should be a brief five-day stint at number one with the top spot debut of his latest comedy Mr. Deeds which grossed $37.2M in its first weekend of release, according to final studio figures. Going to town in 3,231 theaters, the Sony release averaged a strong $11,502 per location. Teens and young adults, who have not been specifically targeted by the recent string of kidpics and action thrillers, were the core audience for Mr. Deeds.

Long-term strength looks questionable though as the PG-13 film witnessed a disturbing 9% slide in ticket sales on Saturday. Plus with the studio's own event pic Men in Black II slated for a Wednesday launch ahead of the long Fourth of July holiday weekend, Deeds could fade fast in the weeks ahead. For Sandler, the Deeds debut more than doubled the $16.1M opening of his last feature Little Nicky and came close to the $39.4M bow of 1998's The Waterboy and the $41.5M launch of 1999's Big Daddy. Critics slammed Mr. Deeds but audiences had a good time nonetheless as moviegoers polled by CinemaScore.com gave the laugher a A- grade.

Steven Spielberg's futuristic cop thriller Minority Report slid to second place and took in $21.6M in its sophomore frame. The Tom Cruise vehicle dropped 40% (good for a sci-fi flick) and has collected $73.4M in ten days. Look for the $102M Fox/DreamWorks co-venture to find its way to $140-150M.

In third was the Disney animated comedy Lilo & Stitch which grossed $21.5M in its second weekend. Dropping a moderate 39%, the PG-rated film pushed its ten-day cume to an impressive $77.1M. Lilo, with its $80M pricetag, could find its way to $150-160M.

Scooby Doo fell by half and barked up another $12.4M pushing the total for the Warner Bros. kidpic to $124M. Universal's The Bourne Identity dropped only 26% to $11.2M in its third frame while the Paramount actioner The Sum of All Fears slid 37% to $4.9M. Totals for the Good Will Hunting boys stand at $72.9M and $105.4M respectively.

Paramount's latest attempt at transforming a Nickelodeon cartoon series into a hit feature franchise misfired as Hey Arnold! The Movie opened to just $5.7M giving it a sixth-place bow. Playing in 2,527 theaters, the PG-rated toon averaged a disappointing $2,258 per theater. With kids lining up for Lilo & Stitch and Scooby Doo, there seemed to be only a small slice of the family audience pie left for Arnold. Paramount stated that the film cost less than $5M to produce and will perform better on home video. Previous offerings from the studio based on popular Nickelodeon shows include 1998's The Rugrats Movie which debuted with $27.3M and last winter's Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius which bowed to $13.8M.

Easing 33% to $4.1M was Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood which has banked $55.4M to date. Star Wars Episode II took in $3.7M, off only 29%, pushing its blockbuster cume to $286.3M. Rounding out the top ten was the MGM war flick Windtalkers which tumbled another 47% to $3.5M leaving the Nicolas Cage pic with $33.2M in 17 days.

Two pics left the top ten over the weekend. In its ninth spin, the megablockbuster Spider-Man dipped 31% to $3.1M boosting the Sony release's haul to a towering $395.9M. The final cume for the $125M pic should reach the vicinity of $405M which makes it the fifth largest-grossing domestic blockbuster of all time.

The basketball comedy Juwanna Mann fouled out dropping 52% in its second weekend to $2.6M for a ten-day score of $10.1M. The Warner Bros. release should end its run with $14-16M.

The top ten films grossed $125.6M which was up 10% from last year when A.I. opened at number one with $29.4M; and up a scant 3% from 2000 when The Perfect Storm debuted in the top spot with $41.3M.


Compared to projections, Mr. Deeds opened a little stronger than my $33M forecast while Hey Arnold! debuted well below my $15M prediction.

Take this week's NEW Reader Survey on Men in Black II. In last week's survey, readers were asked whether Mr. Deeds would open bigger than Big Daddy's $41.5M. Of 4,400 responses, 37% said Yes while 63% correctly thought No.

For a review of Lilo & Stitch visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Wednesday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend's holiday frame when MIB2, The Powerpuff Girls, and Like Mike all open for the Independence Day holiday weekend.

Marketplace: Shop for videos, DVDs, music, books, and posters at discounted prices using search engines

# Title Jun 28 - 30 Jun 21 - 23 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Distributor
1 Mr. Deeds $ 37,162,787 3,231 1 $ 11,502 $ 37,162,787 Sony
2 Minority Report 21,590,412 35,677,125 -39.5 3,001 2 7,194 73,424,800 Fox
3 Lilo & Stitch 21,515,886 35,260,212 -39.0 3,222 2 6,678 77,086,002 Buena Vista
4 Scooby Doo 12,362,423 24,476,416 -49.5 3,447 3 3,586 123,950,021 Warner Bros.
5 The Bourne Identity 11,197,915 15,078,315 -25.7 2,663 3 4,205 72,902,425 Universal
6 Hey Arnold! The Movie 5,706,332 2,527 1 2,258 5,706,332 Paramount
7 The Sum of All Fears 4,858,184 7,764,295 -37.4 2,486 5 1,954 105,370,399 Paramount
8 Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood 4,051,483 6,028,457 -32.8 2,167 4 1,870 55,388,642 Warner Bros.
9 Star Wars Episode II 3,668,293 5,151,029 -28.8 1,801 7 2,037 286,253,833 Fox
10 Windtalkers 3,501,253 6,551,131 -46.6 2,529 3 1,384 33,175,859 MGM
11 Spider-Man 3,130,214 4,555,932 -31.3 1,810 9 1,729 395,874,471 Sony
12 Juwanna Mann 2,608,576 5,474,270 -52.3 1,325 2 1,969 10,115,907 Warner Bros.
13 My Big Fat Greek Wedding 2,002,184 1,776,990 12.7 493 10 4,061 19,340,988 IFC Films
14 Insomnia 1,101,245 1,768,478 -37.7 866 6 1,272 63,706,357 Warner Bros.
15 About A Boy 939,770 1,210,015 -22.3 696 7 1,350 38,912,870 Universal
16 Undercover Brother 870,165 2,120,615 -59.0 802 5 1,085 37,351,590 Universal
17 Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron 752,185 1,995,439 -62.3 1,079 6 697 70,374,398 DreamWorks
18 Bad Company 751,414 2,127,963 -64.7 825 4 911 28,302,210 Buena Vista
19 Space Station 573,939 597,854 -4.0 55 11 10,435 10,607,983 Imax
20 The Importance of Being Earnest 469,265 527,454 -11.0 208 6 2,256 4,955,116 Miramax
Top 5 $ 103,829,423 $ 118,256,363 -12.2
Top 10 125,614,968 146,017,182 -14.0
Top 20 138,813,925 159,084,229 -12.7
Top 20 vs. 2001 138,813,925 123,786,748 12.1

Last Updated : July 2, 2002 at 9:45AM EDT