TOP 10: TROY overcomes Uni's monster hunter

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, May 17, 2004

Brad Pitt overcame Hugh Jackman in this week's box office derby. Warner Bros. retelling of the epic battle of TROY nabbed top spot at the movies this past weekend earning an estimated $45.6 million dollars. In this day and age of mega-budgeted blockbusters (reportedly the budget for making TROY was around $200 M), a less-than $50 M opening weekend result is viewed as a disappointment; still, TROY's running time and generally favorable reviews will probably keep the film inside the top five for a couple of weeks, allowing the picture to recoup most of its budget through domestic grosses.

The bigger question is whether Universal's VAN HELSING will recoup its budget (an estimated $150 M.) Ticket sales for Stephen Sommers' monster mask fell sharply by 60% in the film's second week of release. With a combined tally of just under $85 M so far and increased competition to shortly follow, in the weeks to come VAN HELSING may just make it past the $110 M water line and no further.

Meanwhile Paramount's MEAN GIRLS dropped just one position to third overall, giving the modestly budgeted film even more profit. Sony's new comedy, BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES, debuted at number four with $5.3 M. KILL BILL VOL. 2 fell to ninth spot, GODSEND to tenth and THE PUNISHER to seventeenth overall.

In just two days DreamWorks will release SHREK 2 hoping to make a lot of green. Chances are good the House of Steven, Jeffrey and David will rake in the bucks.


Here are the estimated box office receipts of the top ten films from May 14 through to May 16, with their weekend gross and the movie's total domestic gross to date:

1. TROY $45,615,000 $45,615,000
2. VAN HELSING $20,100,000 $84,500,000
3. MEAN GIRLS $10,100,000 $55,318,000
4. BREAKIN' ALL THE RULES $5,300,000 $5,300,000
5. MAN ON FIRE $5,250,000 $64,318,000
6. 13 GOING ON 30 $4,200,000 $48,615,000
7. NEW YORK MINUTE $3,755,000 $10,724,000
8. LAWS OF ATTRACTION $2,075,000 $15,367,000
9. KILL BILL VOL. 2 $1,627,000 $60,834,000
10. GODSEND $1,000,000 $13,400,000


Got a scoop? Know something that you need to tell us about? Send it to us!