- Atlanta - Boston - Chicago - DC Area - Houston - Jersey Area - Los Angeles - New York - SF Bay Area
- Astrology - Broadband - Cricket New! - Immigration - Lifestyle New! - Money - Movies - New To US New! - Radio - Women - India News - US News
- Rediff Chat - Rediff Bol - Rediff Mail - Home Pages
Som Chivukula
Could a movie gross $100 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend? That was the challenge facing Disney's heavily hyped Pearl Harbor.
Analysts expected a strong showing by the film, which reportedly cost $140 million. Though it opened to mostly negative reviews, Pearl Harbor still grossed a strong $75.1 million in its opening weekend. The World War II epic had the second-best Memorial Day opening ever, behind Jurassic Park: The Lost World, which pulled in $90.1 million four years ago.
"There was a powerful 1-2 punch in the market this weekend," said Boxofficeguru.com editor Gitesh Pandya, with second-place finisher Shrek bringing in $54.2 million.
Moviegoers of all ages had something in store for them at the local multiplex that resulted in strong grosses. "These are two very different films. Pearl Harbor is skewered towards the older generation and children went in to see Shrek," Pandya said.
After just 10 days, Shrek, an animated tale from DreamWorks featuring the voices of Mike Myers, Cameron Diaz and Eddie Murphy has pulled in an amazing $110.7 million.
The Mummy Returns, sequel to the 1999 hit, remained strong in third place bringing in $19.1 million. In three weeks, it has grossed $170.7 million -- making it the highest grosser of the year thus far behind Hannibal.
The three summer releases are slated to pass $200 million each. Just three films reached the milestone last year: Mission: Impossible 2, Cast Away and How the Grinch Stole Christmas.
The strong showing also means a record box-office could be set this year, eclipsing the $7.5 billion mark set last year.
"This sets for a strong summer," Pandya said. Still to come are Planet of the Apes, Jurassic Park 3, Dr Dolittle 2, American Pie 2 and Scary Movie 2. Each is expected to be a monster hit.
But the story for Memorial Day weekend was the strong showing of Shrek and the gross of Pearl Harbor, which many analysts expected to reach $100 million.
"There's no doubt that we overestimated what Pearl Harbor could do," Pandya said. He had predicted a $95 million gross for the Michael Bay picture. "But box office records are broken every day."
Pearl Harbor, starring Ben Affleck and Kate Beckinsale, clocks in at nearly three hours, which reduces the number of shows. There were also comparisons to a Titanic-like performance at the box-office. But Titanic, the Oscar-winner of 1997, opened to rave reviews. Pearl Harbor went through a series of harsh words from critics.
"Hunting for your name in the 10-plus minutes of end credits would be far more productive than watching the nearly three hours of dreck that precedes them," wrote David Germain, film writer for the Associated Press.
But Pandya says the film will still see strong grossing days ahead, though it may not have the repeat business Titanic had. "It was a good time to release it because most colleges are out and there are a lot of students out there who want to watch movies," he said, adding that Pearl Harbor should hang on to first place despite three new releases this weekend: Moulin Rouge, What's the Worst That Could Happen? and The Animal.
Back to top
Tell us what you think of this report
