'X ' Marks The Top Spot
"X2:X Men United" ran away with the box office, taking in nearly $86 million this weekend, followed by Disney's The "Lizzie McGuire Movie", which earned a respectable $17 million.
The thriller "Identity" dropped to third place in its second week, earning $9.5 million, according to Hollywood.com.
"X2: X-Men United" debuted with the fourth-best opening-weekend gross ever
and a 58 percent increase over the $54.5 million first weekend of the original "X-Men" movie three years ago.
The Early Show entertainment contributor Jess Cagle attributes its success to the director's feel for the comic book. "I think first of all the movie delivers," Cagle said, noting viewers really liked the first movie. "So it came into the marketplace with a lot of good will. And the timing was great. It was the first big action movie of the summer. People were excited to see it."
"X2" reunites director Bryan Singer with his "X-Men" cast,
including Patrick Stewart, Ian McKellen, Halle Berry, Hugh Jackman
and Rebecca Romijn-Stamos as mutants with superhuman abilities that include telepathy and shape-shifting.
The sequel teams good and bad mutants against a human enemy who
has hatched a plan to destroy their race.
Cagle noted, "A lot of people liked this one better than the first one. There are a lot of 'X-men,' these mutants and superheroes. And the first movie had to introduce them all. This one, you get right into the action. A lot of people think that if you're not a fan of the comic books, which is most of us, you will like this one better."
Opening in second place was "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," starring Hilary Duff in a big-screen adaptation of her Disney Channel TV series about a young teen coping awkwardly with adolescence.
Cagle said, "If you are a 12-year-old or you have a 12-year-old you are completely aware of Hilary Duff." But he admits until a week ago, he had no idea of who she was. The film did not get good reviews, but viewers, mostly young girls, did not seem to care.
Cagle said, "I don't think that this movie is going to cross over. Unless you're a Hilary Duff fan, you're not going to see this movie for its interesting plot and character development."
Receipts for "X2" came in behind the record $114.8 million for "Spider-Man" over the same weekend last year. The first two "Harry Potter" movies had the second and third best openings, $90.3 million for "Sorcerer's Stone" and $88.4 million for "Chamber of Secrets."
"X2" will easily surpass the $157.3 million domestic gross of "X-Men" and climb beyond $200 million, said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox.
The movie played to a broad audience, with males making up 56 percent of the audience and the crowds almost evenly split between those younger than 25 and those older, Snyder said.
The young audience was targeted as well with "What a Girls Wants." Cagle noted, ever since the success of "Titanic," Hollywood is wooing the younger crowd who will watch the same movie over and over again.
"Right now, there seem to be all of these television stars who are ready made for the movies, you've got Amanda Bynes, you've got Hilary Duff, you've got Shia LaBeouf who is the star of 'Holes,' which is doing well," he said.
Overall, Hollywood revenues were down, with the top 12 movies grossing $140.8 million, off 7.6 percent compared to the same weekend last year, a strong hold considering "Spider-Man" debuted then, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Even factoring in an estimated 11 percent ticket-price increase since 2000, "X2" drew about 14.3 million viewers, up 4.2 million from the opening weekend for "X-Men."
Distributor 20th Century Fox blanketed theaters with the sequel, which played in a record 3,741 cinemas, topping the previous high of 3,682 for last year's "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets." "X2" played on about 1,300 fewer movie screens than the record 8,500 for "Chamber of Secrets," though.
The studio opened "X2" in a record 95 countries simultaneously, with the movie taking in nearly $70 million overseas.
The film's success continues a string of hits based on Marvel comic books, including "Spider-Man," "Daredevil" and "Blade II." Marvel's "The Hulk" opens next month.
"Marvel today is a bona fide brand name for the movie industry," said Avi Arad, Marvel Studios president. "More and more, the audience is catching on that when they see the Marvel logo, they know that fun is about to begin."
In limited release, John Malkovich's directing debut, "The Dancer Upstairs," opened solidly in 13 theaters with $105,300. The film, which expands to more theaters over the next three weekends, stars Javier Bardem as a Latin American policeman tracking a terrorist.
Here are the numbers according to Hollywood.com:
- "X2: X-Men United," $85.85 million.
- "The Lizzie McGuire Movie," $17 million.
- "Identity," $9.5 million.
- "Anger Management," $8.5 million.
- "Holes," $6.5 million.
- "Malibu's Most Wanted," $4 million.
- "Confidence," $2.5 million.
- "It Runs in the Family," $1.55 million.
- "Bend it Like Beckham," $1.455 million.
- "Bulletproof Monk," $1.45 million.