HOLLYWOOD - Ocean's Eleven made the weekend's biggest box office waves, breaking into first place with a record setting $39.3 million.Ocean's full-speed ahead launch ended Harry Potter's three week reign, but put Warner Bros. in the enviable position of having nailed down the top two spots on the chart.
Despite Ocean's strength, ticket sales for key films -- those grossing at least $500,000 -- were only about $83 million, down marginally from this time last year despite blockbuster business for Ocean's and Harry. That decline in the marketplace was driven by sizable drops for Behind Enemy Lines, down 54 percent in its second week, and Spy Game, off 58 percent in its third week.
Between Ocean's and Harry, Warners grossed about $54 million, giving it a staggering market share of about 65 percent.
THE TOP TEN
Warner Bros. PG-13 rated casino heist dramatic comedy Ocean's Eleven opened in first place to a winning ESTIMATED $39.26 million at 3,075 theaters ($12,766 per theater).
Ocean's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Steven Soderbergh, Ocean's extensive cast includes George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.
"We're thrilled," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning. "It's the largest three day Christmas box office (gross) in motion picture history. It's the largest opening of any Christmas movie. The previous record was $33.6 million for What Women Want, which opened Dec. 15 last year.
"From a record setting point of view, it's also the largest Friday in December in history, which belonged to Scream at $12.7 million. We did $13.25 million Friday. The previous record for Saturday was What Women Want at $13.5 million. We did $15.5 million. And the biggest Sunday in the history of December was Titanic with $9.3 million and we're projecting $10.5 million."
Ocean's also set records for its many of its stars and its director. "It's the largest opening for Julia Roberts, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon and Steven Soderbergh," Fellman pointed out. "George (Clooney) was in two of our movies that opened up over the Fourth of July weekend--Batman & Robin, which did $42 million (in 1997) and The Perfect Storm, which did $41 million (in 2000)."
Moviegoers responded very well to Ocean's, Fellman added: "The good news is this film's opening exit polls scored extremely well in all (demographic) quadrants -- led by females under 25. But the composite of the audience was just slightly more female than male. The top two boxes (excellent and very good) were 85 percent, which is huge. The definite recommend was 65 percent and the norms are 50-55 percent. Young females had a 74 percent definite recommend."
Looking ahead, Fellman observed, "This is absolutely going to have a great run. We had a terrific weekend."