January 14th, 2003

"Just" First

It may have been opened to lousy reviews, but it seems North American can't get enough of romantic comedies these past few weeks. Dethroning the Lord (pun intended!), Just Married brought in an impressive 17.5 million - yes, even making back its original budget. In a not-so-distant second, previous champ The Lord Of The Rings: The Two Towers took in 14.7 million over the weekend. By around this time next week, it should pass 300 million and easily defeat "The Fellowship Of The Rings"'s 313 million domestic gross, but I don't think it'll make it to 400 million.

Catch Me If You Can continues to do well, as the excellent romp brought in another 14.6 million (it's almost caught up to "Rings"). Two Weeks Notice is starting to dip with 6.8 million, while About Schmidt held steady with 6.4 million this past weekend.

Chicago, the critical favorite and awards happy musical, is slowly rolling out to theaters across the country and it seems when it opens wide in ten days, it'll be one giant hit for Miramax financially. This weekend it took in 5.6 million. It's definitely an excellent movie, so don't miss it. Meanwhile, Maid In Manhattan cleaned up with another 5.1 million. It looks as it'll come quite close to reaching 100 million... but probably not enough to tip it over that mark.

Gangs Of New York is also slowing down, only taking in 4.8 million over the weekend. Denzel Washington's directorial debut, Antwone Fisher, opened wide this past weekend and took in a respectable 3.7 million. Finally, The Wild Thornberrys Movie is on its way out as it caps off the top ten with 2.8 million.

With limited release films now opening wider this month as well as a slew of fun stuff on the horizon, the box office should get interesting...

-Zach B.