TOP 10: UNDERWORLD takes a bite out of the box office

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, September 22, 2003

Last week I predicted that UNDERWORLD would take in $30 million at the box office on its opening weekend and it turns out I was off by about $8 M. The Screen Gems genre picture netted an estimated $22 M in its first three days of release, which is better what most industry tracking polls indicated the film would make. What caused UNDERWORLD to perform better than expected? Maybe it had to do with placing a monster-filled film in the middle of September and away from the summer competition crush. Maybe it had a lot to do with the early publicity campaign the studio ironed out. Maybe having Kate Beckinsale in latex is something more movies need to have. In any case, UNDERWORLD is a success for its creators and studio execs.

Paramount's THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS came in second with a little over $13 M while New Line's SECONDHAND LIONS raked about $12.8 M. Disney's COLD CREEK MANOR had a dismal $8.3 M showing, placing it fifth overall on the box office listing. However, when it came to the most disappointing gross for a new film, Woody Allen's latest, ANYTHING ELSE, took the consolation prize by earning less than $2 million bucks. I'm sure Woody is crushed...not.

CABIN FEVER dropped off nearly 55% in its second week of release. Meanwhile, PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN plundered another $3.5 M in booty, bringing it up to $292 M in total. When's it going to cross the $300 M barrier? Give it a couple more weeks and it probably will.

Here's the list of the top grossing films from September 19 to 21, their weekend gross and the film's total domestic gross to date:

1. UNDERWORLD $22,000,000 $22,000,000
2. THE FIGHTING TEMPTATIONS $13,200,000 $$13,200,000
3. SECONDHAND LIONS $12,875,000 $12,875,000
4. ONCE UPON A TIME IN MEXICO $11,500,000 $41,445,000
5. COLD CREEK MANOR $8,305,000 $8,305,000
6. MATCHSTICK MEN $7,800,000 $24,481,000
7. CABIN FEVER $3,900,000 $14,700,000
8. DICKIE ROBERTS: FORMER CHILD STAR $3,815,000 $17,334,000
9. PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN: CURSE OF THE BLACK PEARL $3,488,000 $292,503,000
10. LOST IN TRANSLATION $2,807,000 $4,141,000


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