HOLLYWOOD - Moviegoers went Zoinks! over Scooby-Doo, launching it to $56.4 million, the biggest June opening ever. Warners plans to continue the franchise with a Scooby sequel in 2004.The Bourne Identity kicked off strongly in second place to a better than expected $27.5 million. Windtalkers invaded third place, digging in with favorable exit polls and a hopeful $14.5 million.
Also driving the weekend were The Sum of All Fears in fourth place with $13.5 million and Divine Secrets of the Ya-Ya Sisterhood in fifth with $9.8 million.
Ticket sales soared 27 percent ahead of this weekend last year. Key films -- those grossing $500,000 or more -- took in $164.5 million versus last year's $129.1 million.
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Warner Bros.' PG rated family comedy Scooby-Doo turned out to be one sizzling hot dog at the box office, opening to a record setting ESTIMATED $56.42 million at 3,447 theaters ($16,368 per theater).
Directed by Raja Gosnell, it stars Freddie Prinze, Jr., Sarah Michelle Gellar, Matthew Lillard, Linda Cardellini and Rowan Atkinson.
Scooby's average per theater was the highest for any film playing this weekend.
"It's the largest grossing June opening in motion picture history," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning. "The biggest June opening prior to this was Austin Powers (with $54.9 million for New Line's sequel Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me the weekend of June 11-13, 1999). It exceeds the best opening in Warner's June history, which was Batman Forever, our second Batman, (with $52.8 million the weekend of June 16-18, 1995)."
What accounts for Scooby's staggering success? "I think Scooby is a beloved character and it fits into a Looney Tunes mold (in that) it reaches audiences from eight to 80. There was such a fan base (that was even) deeper than we had anticipated. You know, Dan Romanelli and his Consumer Products Group (at Warner Bros.) have been pushing Scooby-Doo ever since they took over consumer product sales for Hanna-Barbera when (Warners) bought it. Scooby has been a big seller."
Focusing on the multiple areas at Warners that contributed to the film's blockbuster launch, Fellman pointed out that the result is a valuable new franchise with a Scooby sequel coming in two years. "It just shows," he said, "that you can take that synergy between consumer products, production, marketing and (television exposure on AOL Time Warner's) the Cartoon Network and build a new franchise. And that's what we've done. So we will have a Scooby-Doo 2 in 2004."
