May 21st, 2002

"Attack" Of The Box Office

You guessed it... of course, the champ this weekend was the next prequel in the beloved "Star Wars" saga, that being Star Wars Episode II - Attack Of The Clones. Yes, I did see it, and since nearly every other DVD site on the net has given their two cents, I figured I'd chime in... I loved it. I'll keep my thoughts brief: the dialogue wasn't as corny as I was led to believe by some reviewers, the love story worked well for me, the acting is great, the special effects are brilliant (obviously), it's fun, it's enjoyable, it fits the "Star Wars" saga very well and it comes down to this: George Lucas is a genius. That's it. I'll have extended thoughts come fall when the DVD debuts :-)

So yes, the film made 80 million over the weekend. An excellent opening, and much higher than "The Phantom Menance"'s opening weekend, so perhaps Episode II will crack the top three. In anycase, Lucas has made it a point that he was not competing with "Spider-Man," seeing how he doesn't think of filmmaking as a competition (good) and the fact is he believes in showing his films at their best quality, so the screens were far fewer than "Spider-Man" by about 500. The film has made 110.2 since last Thursday, six million less than Fox originally predicted (and naturally, they took a little heat for it).

In second, was yes, Spider-Man with another huge showing, this time with 45 million more. It will pass 300 million within a matter of days... next was Unfaithful with 10 million. About A Boy, opening in a mere 1200 screens, did quite well with 8.4 million (I saw it and did enjoy it, as I was a giant fan of the book which I did prefer) while The New Guy hung on with 6.5 million.

Changing Lanes brought in another 3.1 million to its tally, while The Scorpion King dropped again and is losing steam fast, this week making 2.9 million. The Rookie and Murder By Numbers tied with 1.7 million, while My Big Fat Greek Wedding finally broke the top ten with 1.1 million.

Strong box office this week, and most of these films will continue to recieve a strong showing come Memorial Day and the next few weeks. Next week's box office shouldn't be a major challange to "Star Wars" and Spidey, but should hold their own. This will be an interesting summer for sure.

On the site front, I have a review today of last year's box office smash and awards darling. Yep, it's my take on A Beautiful Mind. It streets June 25th, and fans of the film won't be disappointed with this two disc set. Enjoy, and have a great Memorial Day weekend!

-Zach B.