HOLLYWOOD - Americans went to the movies this weekend, handing out over $43 million worth of presidential pictures to see three new high profile films.Driven by strong openings for 20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises' Don't Say A Word, Paramount's Zoolander and Castle Rock and Warner Bros.' Hearts In Atlantis, ticket sales for key films soared about 34 percent over the previous weekend when no high profile films arrived.
Key films--those grossing $500,000 or more for the weekend--were up a healthy 24 percent versus the comparable weekend last year.
Insiders looking at Hollywood's advance radar screen had anticipated lively business this weekend thanks to the three major new arrivals, but they expected the youth appeal comedy Zoolander to finish first.
The inside word had been that Word's plot about a young child falling into the hands of some nasty kidnappers would hurt its ticket sales because adult women find such stories too frightening and audiences in general might not want to see a brutal gang of kidnappers in action so soon after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks. Clearly, moviegoers responded to Fox's strong marketing campaign for Word and to the Kopelson Entertainment production, itself. Word's word of mouth over the weekend was strong with the film's gross jumping about 29 percent from Friday to Saturday.
The weekend's other wide opening, Hearts, had been expected to do well, but not to open as strong as Zoolander because its primary appeal is to adults, who typically take longer than teens to make the time to see new movies.
THE TOP TEN
20th Century Fox's opening of Regency Enterprises and Village Roadshow Pictures' R rated edge-of-your-seat thriller Don't Say A Word easily captured first place with a sizzling ESTIMATED $18.0 million at 2,803 theaters ($6,422 per theater).
Word's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Gary Fleder and produced by Arnon Milchan, Arnold Kopelson and Anne Kopelson, Word stars Michael Douglas.
"I am really delighted," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said Sunday morning. "I was looking at $15 million and I would have been happy. $18 million is wonderful! What a weekend. Zoolander was great. Hearts In Atlantis is strong. Everything is very solid."
Snyder agreed that it appeared that Americans decided to go to the movies this weekend. "That's what it does look like," he said. "And I think it was about quality more than anything else."