HOLLYWOOD - Director M. Night Shyamalan’s latest thriller, The Village, ended The Bourne Supremacy’s reign at the box office this weekend with a chilling take of $50.8 million.But although Shyamalan’s fourth Buena Vista feature defeated the Bourne Supremacy and newcomer The Manchurian Candidate to grab the No.1 title, it’s box office loot wasn’t the highest grossing for the master of suspense.
The thriller Signs earned a colossal $60.1 million when it premiered Aug. 2, 2002, and remains Shyamalan’s best opener yet. By comparison, the 2000 suspense pic Unbreakable opened to $30.3 million, besting the 1999 supernatural thriller The Sixth Sense, which debuted to the tune of $26.6 million and went on to become Shyamalan’s highest-grossing film ever with $293.5 million.
This week’s other new wide releases were scattered in the box office ranks, with the political thriller The Manchurian Candidate landing at No. 3 with $20.2 million and the pot pic Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle taking seventh place with a hazy $5.1 million.
Thunderbirds, the big-screen adaptation of the cult 1960s British TV series featuring marionettes, barely made an impact at the box office, crash-landing out of the Top 10 with $2.7 million.
This week, the Top 12 films grossed an estimated $140.4 million, up 1.10 percent from last weekend’s $138.8 million take, and up 6.6 percent from last year’s draw of $131.7 million.
The top three films at the box office this time last year were Universal’s PG rated comedy American Wedding, which debuted at No. 1 with $33.6 million at 3,172 theaters, averaging $10,520 per theater; Miramax's PG rated Spy Kids 3-D: Game Over, came in second in its second week with $19.5 million in 3,364 theaters, averaging $5,797 per theater; and Buena Vista's PG-13 rated Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl followed in third place in its fourth week with $18.8 million in 3,390 theaters with a $5,559 per theater average.
BOX OFFICE TOP 10, ESTIMATES: (Source: Exhibitor Relations, Inc.)
No. 1: The Village (Buena Vista, PG-13)
• Gross: $50.8 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 3,730
• Per-theater average: $13,623
No. 2: The Bourne Supremacy (Universal Pictures, PG-13)
• Gross: $23.4 million (-55 %)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,180 (+15)
• Per-theater average: $7,358
• Cume to date: $ 98 million
No. 3: The Manchurian Candidate (Paramount, R)
• Gross: $20.2 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: $7,046
• Per-theater average: $7,046
No. 4: I, Robot (20th Century Fox, PG-13)
• Gross: $10 million (-54%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 3,204 (-290)
• Per-theater average: $3,137
• Cume to date: $114.7 million
No. 5: Spider-Man 2 (Sony Pictures, PG-13)
• Gross: $8.5 million (-43%)
• Weeks opened: 5
• Theaters: 3,001 (-752)
• Per-theater average: $2,832
• Cume to date: $ 344.2 million
No. 6: Catwoman (Warner Bros., PG-13)
• Gross: $6 million (-64%)
• Weeks opened: 2
• Theaters: 3,117 (unchanged)
• Per-theater average: $1,951
• Cume to date: $29.4 million
No. 7: Harold & Kumar Go to White Castle (New Line, R)
• Gross: $5.1 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,135
• Per-theater average: $2,412
No. 8: Cinderella Story (Warner Bros., PG)
• Gross: $4.6 million (-40%)
• Weeks opened: 3
• Theaters: 2,350 (-275)
• Per-theater average: $1,996
• Cume to date: $40.1 million
No. 9: Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy (DreamWorks, PG-13)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-56%)
• Weeks opened: 4
• Theaters: 2,032 (-904)
• Per-theater average: $1,526
• Cume to date: $78.1 million
(Tie) No. 10: Fahrenheit 9/11 (Lions Gate, IFC Films; R)
• Gross: $3.1 million (-35%)
• Weeks opened: 6
• Theaters: 1,217 (-628)
• Per-theater average: $2,547
• Cume to date: $109.4 million
OTHER OPENINGS
Thunderbirds (Universal, PG)
• Gross: $2.7 million
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 2,057
• Per-theater average: $1,313
Garden State (Fox Searchlight, R)
• Gross: $185,034
• Weeks opened: NEW!
• Theaters: 9
• Per-theater average: $20,559
She Hate Me (Sony Pictures Classics, R)
• Gross: $57,049
• Weeks opened: NEW! (Opened Wednesday)
• Theaters: 11
• Per-theater average: $5,186
• Cume to date: $83,400
Intimate Strangers (Paramount Classics, R)
• Gross: $56,000
• Weeks opened: NEW! (Opened Wednesday)
• Theaters: 5
• Per-theater average: $11,202
• Cume to date: $56,009