X-Men 3 Scores Largest Opening Ever For Memorial Day Weekend

[comedyfreak]

Weekend Box Office Estimates (U.S.)
This Wk Last Wk Title Dist. Weekend Gross Cumulative
Gross Rlse
Wks # of
Theaters
1 - X-Men: The Last Stand 20th Century Fox $120,125,000 $120,125,000 1 3690
2 1 The Da Vinci Code Sony Pictures Releasing, Sony Pictures Releasing International $43,000,000 $145,481,000 2 3754
3 2 Over the Hedge Paramount Pictures, United International Pictures $35,342,000 $84,398,000 2 4093
4 3 Mission: Impossible III Paramount Pictures $8,567,000 $115,837,000 4 3053
5 4 Poseidon Warner Bros. Pictures Distribution $7,000,000 $46,643,000 3 3245
6 5 RV Sony Pictures Releasing $5,300,000 $57,155,000 5 2481
7 6 See No Evil Lions Gate Releasing, Lionsgate $3,200,000 $9,163,000 2 1270
8 7 Just My Luck 20th Century Fox Distribution $2,300,000 $13,932,000 3 1604
9 9 United 93 N/A $1,054,000 $29,878,000 5 781
10 8 An American Haunting Freestyle Releasing $937,000 $14,908,000 4 748
11 11 Ice Age: The Meltdown 20th Century Fox $885,000 $190,594,000 9 633
12 10 Akeelah and the Bee Lions Gate Releasing $830,000 $17,048,000 5 487

"X-Men: The Last Stand" stormed to an estimated $107 million three-day opening, the largest ever for Memorial Day weekend and the fourth-biggest in box office history.

Preliminary estimates were released Sunday for the third installment of the series featuring a cast of mutants with names like Storm (Halle Berry), Wolverine (Hugh Jackman) and Mystique (Rebecca Romijn).

The 20th Century Fox film opened in 3,690 theaters and grossed a whopping $28,997 per theater.

"People had such a huge awareness of the movie that it just translated into these huge numbers," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.

The film benefited from a huge base of fans who had seen the first two "X-Men" films, plus great marketing and solid reviews, Dergarabedian said.

"This is what the summer is all about," he said, adding the box office has rebounded well since last year's slump. "With `Da Vinci Code' doing better than anticipated ... we could not be in a better position."

Estimates for "The Da Vinci Code" over the start of the holiday weekend were not immediately available. That film, starring Tom Hanks and directed by Ron Howard, had a solid $77 million opener last weekend.

On the all-time list, "X-Men: The Last Stand" ranks behind only "Spider-Man," "Star Wars: Episode III" and "Shrek 2" for opening weekend gross. None of the other films opened on a holiday weekend, which usually gives movies a boost.

For Memorial Day openers, "X-Men" crushed the previous three-day high of $72 million, set by "The Lost World: Jurassic Park" in 1997.