Spring Box Office lowest in 4 years (article)
http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20050601/fil ... MlJVRPUCUl
'Sith' no lift for spring's sagging box office By Brian Fuson
Wed Jun 1, 3:22 AM ET
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) - There was little bounce in this spring's box office.
The nine-week stretch that began March 25, with the start of the season's school and religious holidays, and ended Thursday, just before the Memorial Day holiday weekend, sold $1.3 billion worth of tickets, a 12% slide from spring 2004's $1.5 billion. It was the lowest spring tally in four years.
More troublesome, the number of tickets sold fell 14% from last year to 206.1 million, the sixth-lowest tally of the past eight years. The record was set in 2002 with 274.2 million admissions, when Sony's "Spider-Man" and Fox's "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" led the charge.
The lone standout this season was Fox's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith," which rocketed to $200.4 million in just eight days.
Among the films that offset "Sith's" winning numbers was Fox's other May release, Ridley Scott's Crusader tale "Kingdom of Heaven," which opened at No. 1 on the first Friday of the month with just $19.6 million for the weekend. By comparison, in 2004, Universal Pictures' "Van Helsing" debuted with $51.7 million on the comparable weekend, on its way to $120 million. "Kingdom" has managed to conquer only $45 million so far.
Overall, the box office has been in slump for about the past three months, with 12 out of the past 14 weeks (Friday-Thursday) grossing less than their counterparts in 2004.
On a weekend-to-weekend comparison, there have been 14 consecutive down weekends this year. Thanks to the midweek business from "Sith" and Warner Bros. Pictures' "Miss Congeniality 2: Armed and Fabulous," two of those full-week tallies were boosted above the comparable frames last year.
"Kingdom of Heaven" might have been one of the more visible disappointments, but it was hardly alone.
In late April, Disney's "The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy" and Sony's "XXX: State of the Union" attempted to cash in on the presummer hype. But only "Hitchhiker" generated respectable business, beaming up $21.1 million its opening weekend, while "XXX" bowed to just $12.7 million. Neither film held on to its audience very well, and their respective spring hauls ended up at $47.8 million and $25.9 million.
"Sith" captured the top spot in spring without much of a fight, followed by Dimension's "Sin City" with a U.S.-Canadian gross of $73.3 million, while Sony's "Guess Who" brought up the third slot with $68 million. Next was Universal's "The Interpreter" with $66.6 million. Paramount's "Sahara" brought in $65.9 million to place fifth.
MGM's "The Amityville Horror" was in the sixth spot ($64.5 million), followed by Fox's "Robots" ($51.9 million of its $126.3 million total), and New Line Cinema's "Monster-in-Law" ($49.7 million). "Hitchhiker's Guide" was ninth, and "Miss Congeniality 2" placed 10th ($44.2 million).
The national box office total for the year to date is down 6% from 2004, with estimated admissions off about 7%.
Reuters/Hollywood Reporter
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Perhaps its not just the TPOTC effect. Id say 05 took a big hit without a proper summer opener on Kingdom of Heaven's weekend. Atleast the winter was extremely strong - which helps keep 05 in with a chance.
