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Weekend Box Office (November 7 - 9, 2003)
THIS WEEKEND Let the Revolution begin! Warner Brothers unleashes the final chapter in the hugely successful Matrix trilogy while New Line counters with the holiday film Elf.
Opening at Zero Hour on Wednesday, The Matrix Revolutions looks to answer a lot of questions, while at the same time rake in a lot at the box office. Warner Brothers took the unprecedented step of opening Revolutions at the exact same time in over 50 countries worldwide. Zero Hour was 9AM New York, 6AM Los Angeles, 2PM London and 11PM Tokyo.
The Matrix, which opened in March of 1999 set a new standard in movie special effects. It earned $171.4M domestically and another $285M in the rest of the world. The Matrix Reloaded opened this past May and destroyed everything in its path. The movie opened on a Thursday, and including previews starting the night before at 10PM earned an astounding $42.5M on opening day. Its Friday to Sunday take was $91.8M, the second highest weekend total in history, behind only Spider-Man. It smashed past the $100M barrier in only three days, becoming only the second film to do achieve that feat (Spider-Man again). As of last weekend it was still playing in 22 theaters across the country, having taken in $281.5M domestically, and another $454.2M overseas, making it the 13th highest grossing film of all time worldwide. Add in revenue from video/DVD sales, video games, soundtracks and other merchandise and the Matrix series so far has taken in close to $2 billion.
All of which leads to the thrilling conclusion in Revolutions. The film opened in the U.S. on just over 3500 screens, including 60 IMAX theaters. The anticipation for Revolutions isn't nearly the same as for Reloaded. In that case, you had eager fans waiting for close to four-and-a-half years, while here it has been barely 6 months. While Reloaded did extremely well, it didn't do as well as many had predicted, coming in behind Finding Nemo and Pirates of the Caribbean in the summer box office race. Many people felt disappointed after years of waiting to see how the story continued, and with that in mind, some people may decide to pass on the finale. However, with many people wanting to see how the entire series plays out, there is no doubt that Revolutions will still do big business. Friday to Sunday, Revolutions could see a gross of $80M, with a 5-day total of around $125M.
Also opening this weekend is the Will Ferrell comedy, Elf. The PG rated film is directed by Jon Favreau and tells the story of a normal man raised as an elf at the North Pole and sent back home to find his real parents. Ferrell's stock has been on the rise the last few years, but this is his first solo starring role. February's Old School, which featured Ferrell along with Vince Vaughn and Luke Wilson, opened with $17.4M and ended its run with a very strong $75.5M, good enough to warrant a sequel. In fact, Ferrell has no less than 8 films in some stage of production at the moment, showing that studios have a lot of confidence in his ability to sell tickets. Opening on around 3000 screens, Elf could see a weekend take of around $20M, with a good chance of holding on strong through the holidays.
Last weekend's number one film, Scary Movie, should see another sizable drop this weekend, due to the sizable competition. A drop of 50% would give it a weekend total of around $10M. Brother Bear, which opened last Saturday, should see a smaller drop, although it does have direct competition for younger views with Elf. A drop of 30% would give the Disney animated adventure a weekend total of $13M.
For a review of The Matrix Revolutions, visit The Chief Report.
LAST YEAR Rap superstar Eminem ruled the box office as his debut film 8 Mile destroyed everything in its path with a huge $51.2M opening. The holiday sequel The Santa Clause 2 held on strong to second place with $24.7M, while the surprise horror hit The Ring took in $15.5M. I Spy took fourth with $8.8M and Jackass: The Movie rounded out the top 5 with $7M.
Be sure to check back daily for updates on The Matrix Revolutions box office numbers.
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This column is updated three times each week: Thursday (upcoming weekend's summary), Sunday (post-weekend analysis with estimates), and Monday night (actuals). Data source: Exhibitor Relations, EDI. Opinions expressed in this column are those solely of the author.
Last Updated : November 6, 2003 at 12:00AM EST
