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Box Office Analysis: What a "Kill"er Weekend!
Box Office Analysis: What a "Kill"er Weekend!
By
Hollywood.com Staff
|
Sunday, October 12, 2003
HOLLYWOOD - Audiences were in the mood for a "gutsy" Tarantino movie this weekend.Quentin Tarantino's kung fu chopping, samurai sword slashing, body part flying Kill Bill Vol. 1 filleted the competition this weekend, opening in the top spot with a respectable $22.6 million* and beating out last week's champ, School of Rock, which dropped to second place with $15.4 million.While far from a blockbuster debut, Kill Bill delivered solidly at the box office for a genre picture steeped in violence, Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations, told The Associated Press. "Kill Bill is a very specialized film. It appeals to an important segment of the audience, but kind of a limited audience," Dergarabedian said. "Grandma does not want to see Kill Bill."Making his way back into theaters after a six-year absence, Tarantino's blood-soaked tribute to grindhouse cinema now stands as his best opener ever, topping his last film, the 1997 Jackie Brown ($12.8 million) and the 1994 Pulp Fiction ($9.3 million). Kill Bill can also claim the fourth best October opener ever, besting School of Rock, which took the fifth best October slot last week at $19.6 million. Both films follow the likes of October champ Red Dragon, which debuted in 2002 with $36.5 million.Tarantino and Miramax chose to chop three-hour Kill Bill into two parts rather than dish it out to audiences in one big gulp, and exit polls indicated 90 percent of the audience looking forward to Kill Bill Vol. 2, Rick Sands, Miramax chief operating officer, told AP. "The gamble paid off," Sands said. "We think it was a smart decision to split the movie." Vol. 2 opens in February.Newcomers Intolerable Cruelty, the eccentric Coen brothers' stab at a classic battle of the sexes, debuted in third place with $13.1 million, while Good Boy!, a spirited dog tail, er tale, opened with $13 million. Last week's No. 2, the noirish Out of Time, rounded out the top five with $8.6 million.The other notable opener this week was Clint Eastwood's taut Oscar bait Mystic River, which premiered in limited theaters but managed to take in $591,390 over the weekend.THE TOP TENMiramax Films scores again. The studio's R rated Kill Bill Vol. 1 premiered at the top of the box office this week with an ESTIMATED $22.6 million in 3,102 theaters. The film took in $7,312 per theater, making it the highest average of any film playing wide this week.The revenge tale centers on the Bride, a highly trained former assassin looking for a little payback after being left for dead on her wedding day by those she once worked with. Directed by Tarantino, it stars Uma Thurman, Lucy Liu, Vivica A. Fox, Michael Madsen, Daryl Hannah and David Carradine.Losing its No. 1 title, Paramount Pictures' PG-13 rated rock 'n' roll comedy School of Rock, still managed to jam in second place with an ESTIMATED $15.4 million (-22%) in 2,929 theaters (+315 theaters; $5,258 per theater). Starring Jack Black as a hell raising guitarist who impersonates a substitute teacher and turns a class of high achieving fifth graders into high-voltage rock 'n' rollers, the film's cume is approximately $39.5 million.Directed by Richard Linklater, it stars Black, Joan Cusack and Michael White. Universal Pictures' PG 13 rated offbeat romantic comedy Intolerable Cruelty opened in third place with an ESTIMATED $13.1 million in 2,564 theaters, averaging $5,109 per theater.The story follows a successful divorce attorney who meets his match when he runs into a professional divorcee.Produced by Ethan Coen and directed by Joel Coen, it stars George Clooney and Catherine Zeta-Jones.*Box office estimates provided by Exhibitor Relations, Inc.
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