August 26th, 2003

My Boss's Disaster

As to be expected since summer is coming to a close (oh, and that this time - late August - is a dumping ground for subpar movies), it was a pretty lifeless box office over the weekend. In first place was last week's winner Freddy Vs. Jason with a pretty decent 13.1 million. With its total pushed past 60 million, the horror crossover has the claim to fame by saying it's the only other movie this summer (besides "X2") to hold the top spot two weekends in a row. I'm sure a sequel isn't too far off...

In second place again was S.W.A.T., holding strong this weekend with 10.5 million, it should break 100 million by next weekend. Also holding strong was Kevin Costner's latest well-receieved directorial effort, Open Range. The film tied with another Disney release, the sleeper family comedy Freaky Friday for 9.4 million. In fifth was one of the weekend's several new releases (and it faired the best), the Jackie Chan action pic The Medallion with a so-so 8.1 intake.

Pirartes Of The Carribean: The Curse Of The Black Pearl is still showing some sea legs, as it took in another 7.2 million over the weekend. And on the verge of reaching 100 million is the wonderful horse drama Seabiscuit, this weekend taking in 6.1 million. Standing in eighth and ninth place were Uptown Girls and American Wedding, with 5.6 and 5.4 million respectively. Finally, hoping to cash in on Ashton Kutcher's new found level of popularity, Miramax released the on-the-shelf-for-a-few-years comedy My Boss's Daughter. Looks like the movie got punk'd, as it only took in 5 million (still, that's much better than another on-the-shelf comedy that was released over the weekend - Marci X - which brought in less than a million).

So summer's finally coming to a close, with the only major new release up ahead is the horror sequel Jeepers Creepers 2. Here's hoping for a brighter fall movie season, and look for a wrap-up on the summer movie season shortly...

-Zach B.