HOLLYWOOD - Sony Pictures Entertainment set off a dazzling box office fireworks display that made this July Fourth weekend Hollywood's biggest ever. Sony's three Columbia Pictures releases grossed $119.5 million for the five day holiday period -- about 51 percent of the key films five day total of about $235 million.
Men in Black II opened to a chart topping $54.1 million and a five day cume of $90 million. Mr. Deeds was a rich number two with $18.8 million and $26.3 million for five days. On top of that, it was a milestone weekend for Spider-Man, whose $3.2 million for five days brought its cume to $400.1 million.
20th Century Fox launched its own July Fourth sparkler Like Mike in third place with $13.1 million and $20.1 million for five days. Disney's Lilo & Stitch was a colorful fourth with $12.7 million. Fox and DreamWorks' Minority Report finished fifth with $12.4 million.
The weekend's other wide opening, Warner Bros.' The Powerpuff Girls Movie, fizzled in ninth place with $3.6 million and $6.1 million for five days.
Ticket sales were up over 19 percent from last year's July Fourth weekend. Key films -- those grossing $500,000 or more -- took in $151.2 million versus last year's $126.8 million.
THE TOP TEN
Columbia's PG-13 rated blockbuster sequel Men In Black II arrived in first place to an out of this world ESTIMATED $54.1 million at 3,557 theaters ($15,209 per theater). Its cume after five days is approximately $90.0 million.
MIB II's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Barry Sonnenfeld, it stars Tommy Lee Jones and Will Smith.
The original Men In Black's first weekend in theaters was July 4-6, 1997 with $51.07 million at 3,020 theaters ($16,910 per theater). With July Fourth falling on a Friday that year, the film's opening gave it a six day cume of $84.1 million. It went on to gross $250.1 million in domestic theaters.
"That's the biggest Friday-Saturday-Sunday July Fourth opening ever," Sony Pictures Entertainment worldwide marketing & distribution president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning, "beating MIB I at $51.1 million. And it's the biggest five days ever (for July Fourth) if you back out the Tuesday (preview) shows for ID4, which did $85.0 million July 3-7, 1996. But they had $11 million in Tuesday shows (giving the film $96 million for six days)."
Looking at other records set by MIB II, Blake said, "It's Will Smith's biggest opening ever. He now owns the July Fourth Triple Crown. MIB I was his biggest and Independence Day before that had done $50.2 million for the Friday-Saturday-Sunday (three-day portion of its 1996 July Fourth weekend). So he truly owns July Fourth -- one, two and three.
"Men In Black II is Sony's fifth number one opening of the year, joining Black Hawk Down, Panic Room, Spider-Man and Mr. Deeds. It brings our market share for the year to $965 million (from) Jan. 1 through July 7. We will hit $1 billion before next weekend. That's the fastest anyone has ever hit $1 billion. In our record year of 1997, which is the record that still stands at $1.27 billion, we hit $1 billion on Labor Day weekend. We'll have our $1 billion in our pocket (shortly) and we'll certainly have the balance of Men In Black II and the balance of Mr. Deeds. And we'll have (still ahead) for the year pictures like Stuart Little 2 on July 19, XXX on Aug. 9, I Spy on Nov. 1, Adam Sandler's Eight Crazy Nights at Thanksgiving and Jennifer Lopez's Chambermaid at Christmas. So we feel very excited about what that could add up to. It's hard to tell, but we certainly plan to break our own record and hope to break our own record. We're running a full two months ahead of our pace in '97."
Looking ahead to where MIB II is going in domestic theaters, Blake said, "It's a little too soon to say, but we will go into our second weekend most likely with about $120 million or so of business. So that's a pretty good place to be going into your second weekend."
Sony's next release is Stuart Little 2 on July 19. The first Stuart Little opened to $15 million the weekend of Dec. 17-19, 1999 and went on to gross $140 million in domestic theaters.
Columbia and New Line's PG-13 rated comedy Mr. Deeds fell one peg to second place in its second week with a still rich ESTIMATED $18.8 million (-49%) at 3,231 theaters (theater count unchanged; $5,819 per theater). For the five day holiday period it grossed an ESTIMATED $26.3 million. Its cume is approximately $74.0 million.
Directed by Steven Brill, it stars Adam Sandler and Winona Ryder.
"We have the biggest one-two punch in history with MIB II and Mr. Deeds," Sony's Jeff Blake noted. Together the two films did about $116.3 million over the five day holiday period.