HOLLYWOOD - Although an East Coast snowstorm put Saturday ticket sales in the deep freeze, there still was a blizzard of box office business this weekend for Black Hawk Down and Snow Dogs.Down went wide with a record setting $34 million for the four day holiday weekend that on Monday honors Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday. Snow Dogs arrived to a hearty $22.5 million for Friday-Monday.
That was enough to end Lord of the Rings' four week chart topping reign, sending it to third place with a still solid $17.3 million. A Beautiful Mind continued to show beautiful legs, finishing fourth with $13 million.
Key films--those grossing $500,000 or more--took in about $143 million for the four day MLK weekend. Nonetheless, business slid nearly 14 percent from last year's King weekend (Jan. 12-15, 2001) when key films grossed $166.4 million.
THE TOP TEN
(NOTE: Today's projections are for the four day holiday weekend and are based on studio reports or industry estimates. Where available, estimates for the three day period from Friday-Sunday are also indicated parenthetically. Percentage comparisons are not indicated since the previous weekend was a regular three day weekend.)
Revolution Studios and Jerry Bruckheimer Films' R rated drama Black Hawk Down went wide in its fourth week of release via Columbia Pictures with a high flying ESTIMATED $34.0 million at 3,101 theaters (+3,085 theaters; $10,964 per theater). Its cume is approximately $35.8 million. (For three days Sony said it did an ESTIMATED $29.0 million or $9,352 per theater.)
Down's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Ridley Scott, it stars Josh Hartnett.
"It's the biggest Martin Luther King opening weekend ever," Sony Pictures Entertainment worldwide marketing & distribution president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning. "The best thing last year was Save the Last Dance, which did $23.4 million for Friday-Saturday-Sunday and for four days was $27.5 million.
"Another statistic to note is that this certainly is a launch comparable to Saving Private Ryan, to which comparisons have been made (in terms of both being war dramas) although that was in July without the snow. That was $30.5 million on July 24, 1998."
Focusing on the growing importance of the MLK weekend, Blake observed, "This is a big number for the middle of January. There's no question about that. Despite obviously inclement weather on the East Coast, we couldn't be happier about the way things have turned out."
Clearly, Sony's strategy of putting Down in platform release during the holiday season in order to qualify it for Oscar consideration but holding off until the MLK weekend for its wide break turned out to be right on the money.
"There's no question," Blake said. "We always wanted both. We wanted, certainly, a chance to participate in the year-end award activities, but never at the expense of a big opening. And, yes, we now have both."