Boy Wizard & 007 Fight For Lead
"Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets" reclaimed the box office crown with $32.2 million this weekend, but "Die Another Day" was right behind taking in a very strong $31 million, helping it become the Bond movie to reach the $100 million mark in the shortest period.
The Santa Clause 2 had another steady outing, taking in $12.3 million in its fifth weekend, and two new animated releases, Disney's "Treasure Planet" and Adam Sandler's "Eight Crazy Nights", rounded out the top five.
"Usually on the long holiday weekend we have a big movie release to look forward to. Last year, it was Harry Potter. The year before that was 'The Grinch,' always something really big. This week not so much. There wasn't anything that everybody was looking forward to. People were more excited about running to the video store to get 'Ice Age' on DVD," said Hibberd.
"Typically, new pictures come roaring out. But there's no
question the stuff that was already out, whether Bond or `Harry
Potter' or `Santa Clause,' that's where people wanted to go," said
Disney head of distribution Chuck Viane. "There's a long Christmas
holiday ahead of us, so I'm keeping my fingers crossed that in the
long run we'll end up doing the numbers we expected."
Disney's animated sci-fi tale "Treasure Planet" led the
newcomers, coming in at No. 4 with $11.9 million Friday to Sunday
and $16.5 million for the five-day holiday period. It came in just
behind Disney's "The Santa Clause 2."
"Disney sort of has a split focus because they have the "Santa Claus 2" out right now. Movies like this, they want to see a slow roll over the whole holiday season. They don't want the hit and run that a lot of movies tend to get. "Santa Claus 2" is a great example. Opened five weeks ago, and it's made $100 million. It's still doing well. Still in the top five. That's what they're expecting this one to do," said Hibberd.
The cerebral "Solaris" "maybe wasn't quite the holiday fare we thought it was," said Bruce Snyder, head of distribution for 20th Century Fox, which released the film.
"Once in awhile a movie comes along that has a very unfortunate title. And it's a title that nobody knows what the movie is about, 'Jjumanji,' 'Barton Fink.' People are like, what? And if they don't get it, they're not going to see it. 'Solaris' is one of those. And not even George Clooney can save that," said Hibberd.
The overall box office was down, with the top 12 movies grossing $196.1 million Wednesday to Sunday, off 1.6 percent from Thanksgiving weekend last year.
"It was still a very solid Thanksgiving weekend," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "There weren't any new movies that really generated a lot of interest, and when you have a `Potter' and Bond movie out there,it's going to be hard for the new ones to knock those off their perch."
"Chamber of Secrets" pushed its 17-day total to $200.2
million, becoming the sixth movie released in 2002 to cross the
$200 million mark, tying last year's record. That record should
fall after "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" hits theaters.
"Die Another Day," "The Santa Clause 2" and "8 Mile" all
passed the $100 million mark, making 21 movies so far this year to
cross that level, one short of the record set in 2000.
Coming up next, look forward to "Analyze That" with Robert de Niro, the sequel to "Analyze This." Also "Gangs In New York," "Catch Me If You Can" and of course, "Lord Of The Rings."
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday, according to Hollywood.com are:
- "Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets," $32.2 million.
- "Die Another Day," $31 million.
- "The Santa Clause 2," $12.3 million.
- "Treasure Planet," $11.9 million.
- "Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights," $10.1 million.
- "Friday After Next," $7.8 million.
- "Solaris," $6.8 million.
- "8 Mile," $5.9 million.
- "Wes Craven Presents: They," $5.7 million.
- "The Ring," $5.5 million.