HOLLYWOOD - Moviegoers celebrated Presidents Day weekend by voting Washington--Denzel Washington and John Q--into first place with $25 million.Also driving the crowded four day holiday weekend were lively openings for Crossroads with $17 million and Return to Never Land with $15 million-plus.
Among holdovers, Big Fat Liar enjoyed nearly $12 million in family business, Collateral Damage slid 34 percent but still did close to $11 million and A Beautiful Mind did almost $10 million on the heels of its eight Oscar nominations.
Also arriving were Hart's War to a less heartening $10 million and Super Troopers to an okay $7.5 million given its modest acquisition cost.
Key films--those grossing $500,000 or more--did $161.5 million, up nearly 16 percent from last year's $139.7 million for four days. This year goes into the history books as Hollywood's biggest Presidents Day weekend ever, beating the record established last year.
THE TOP TEN
(NOTE: Today's estimates are for the four day period from Friday through Monday. Estimates for the three day weekend are indicated parenthetically. Percentage comparisons are to the previous three day weekend plus Monday, Feb. 11.)
New Line's John Q captured first place at the holiday weekend box office with a record setting ESTIMATED $25.0 million at 2,466 theaters ($10,138 per theater). (Its estimated gross for three days was $20.63 million.)
Despite a critical drubbing, John Q set a record for a Presidents Day weekend opening, beating the record set by New Line's The Wedding Singer of $21.92 million the weekend of Feb. 13-16, 1998. Over the years, however, a number of holdovers have done better than $25 million for Presidents Day weekend, including Hannibal with $33.5 million last year.
John Q's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Nick Cassavetes, it stars Denzel Washington, Robert Duvall, James Woods, Anne Heche, Kimberly Elise and Ray Liotta.
"We're thrilled," New Line Distribution president David Tuckerman said Sunday. "The CinemaScores were all between A- and A+ across the board. The demographics look like they're 50-50 (male-female). The exit polls were 95 percent in the Top Two Boxes (excellent and very good). The definite recommend is 90 percent."
Focusing on the film's largely negative reviews, Tuckerman noted, "We've had three movies in a row that the public really loved and the critics did not--Life As A House, I Am Sam and this one. The public really liked all three of these movies. This one is going to do business. The public likes the movie."
Asked where John Q could be heading in domestic theaters, Tuckerman replied, "If you use a formula of three times (the opening weekend gross), it gets you to $75 million--although this is a four day (total and the formula might not be quite the same as with three day weekends). It's a little too early to say."