Most analysts are arguing that there is little chance that this
weekend’s box office for Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the
Ring will rival last month’s $90.3 million take for Harry Potter
and the Sorcerer’s Stone.
They point out that its running time of
nearly three hours will allow fewer screenings than Potter. They
also note that the pre-Christmas weekend, occupied with last-minute
shopping, rarely produces the kind of business that the Thanksgiving
weekend does.
Still, some analysts have noted that the film is tracking
well among adults, whose tickets cost nearly twice the amount of kids’.
(Today’s Boston Globe reported that a midnight showing attracted
mostly college-age males, who expressed qualified praise for the film
afterwards.)
New Line is predicting a debut “in excess of $60 million.”
