Studio honchos can finally stop holding their collective breath.
Despite a somewhat lackluster summer and early autumn at the box office, Y2K has still managed to set another record year in overall ticket sales with $7.7 billion, up 3 percent from last year’s $7.5 billion, Reuters says.
Leading the pack is Jim Carrey‘s children’s book turn in “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” with its $235 million take since its November debut. Following the green-faced miser is the Tom Cruise summer actioner “M:I-2” at $215.4 million, with third place going to Aussie tough guy Russell Crowe‘s Roman epic “Gladiator” at $186.6 million.
However, “The Grinch’s” dominance might still not be enough to push Universal Pictures — the film’s distributor — to the top of the studio race this year. Running neck and neck with Universal is Walt Disney Co., the top studio for the past two years.
And if the estimate by Daily Variety is anything to go by, the battle between the two studios will likely resemble this year’s presidential election.
In other words: Too close to call.
