TOP 10: THE LAST SAMURAI comes in first place

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, December 08, 2003

To no one's surprise THE LAST SAMURAI cut its way to the top of the chart this week at the box office; nevertheless, Warner Bros. was expecting Tom Cruise's latest adventure to earn more moolah in its opening weekend. The snowstorm that struck the east coast kept moviegoers indoors and in front of their TV sets, contributing to the softer than expected gross for SAMURAI. Still, $24 million and change ain't too shabby, and moderate reviews will probably help the film earn its cost back before departing cineplexes.

The Universal hip-hop romance/drama HONEY starring DARK ANGEL Jessica Alba came in second, showing that the kids are still alright. Families continue to check out Eddie Murphy in Disney's THE HAUNTED MANSION which is at the number three spot. New Line's ELF falls out of making eight digits this week, but with a net total just shy of $140 M, don't worry for Will Ferrell. THE CAT IN THE HAT falls to number five and it doesn't look like this Seussian tale will have the movie legs that THE GRINCH had three years ago.

BAD SANTA holds on to the sixth position, GOTHIKA falls down to seventh, THE MISSING is in danger of doing just that at number eight and MASTER AND COMMANDER still has some maneouvering room left in its rudder. Finally, someone out there went to see LOVE ACTUALLY this past weekend because it came in the tenth position. You know who you are!

And where's last week's new arrival TIMELINE? Try at number eleven. Harsh reviews have stung this $80 M dollar film which looks as if it will be lucky to make $20 M. Yeowch!

Here's the estimated box office receipts of the top ten films from December 5 through to December 7, with their weekend gross and the film's total domestic gross to date:

1. THE LAST SAMURAI $24,425,000 $24,425,000
2. HONEY $14,000,000 $14,000,000
3. THE HAUNTED MANSION $9,500,000 $46,100,000
4. ELF $8,125,000 $139,626,000
5. DR. SEUSS' THE CAT IN THE HAT $7,300,000 $85,500,000
6. BAD SANTA $7,077,000 $27,201,000
7. GOTHIKA $5,325,000 $49,620,000
8. THE MISSING $4,400,000 $22,171,000
9. MASTER AND COMMANDER: THE FAR SIDE OF THE WORLD $3,800,000 $72,633,000
10. LOVE ACTUALLY $3,700,000 $48,900,000


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