TOP 12: Horror over humor

By: Patrick Sauriol
Date: Monday, August 23, 2004

It turns out there's still life left in Warner Bros. EXORCIST franchise as Renny Harlin's EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING prequel captured the top spot at the box office this past weekend. The movie, which tells the tale of Father Merrin's first encounter with the Devil in post-World War II Africa, took in an estimated $18 million dollars from Friday to Sunday. While it's not as big a bite as the $38 M gross that last week's champ, ALIEN VS. PREDATOR, had, it's still significant for a picture that had some bad buzz to overcome.

Taking second position was Paramount's comedy WITHOUT A PADDLE, which had a nice net of $13 M and change. The PRINCESS DIARIES sequel took third place and had a 43% dropoff from its opening weekend gross, which is something to gloat over compared to the dropoff for ALIEN VS. PREDATOR. In AVP's second weekend at theaters the film fell a mammoth 67%, showing that the E.T. fight club match-up doesn't have the same kind of legs as cute-as-a-button Anne Hathaway. Maybe the two studios can come together and develop ALIEN VS. ANNE or THE PREDATOR DIARIES to unite the two audiences...

This week saw a big bump up for the grosses of OPEN WATER which expanded onto another 2,600+ screens, elevating the film to fifth spot on the chart. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY has crossed $150 M domestic and now stands with $30 M more than its predecessor grossed just two years back. Zack Braff's GARDEN STATE also benefitted from opening on more screens, allowing the comedy-drama to capture tenth position.

Next week it's the studios last shot at summer releases, the final weekend before the kids head back to campus for the start of another school year. How will the action of ANACONDAS fare against the serial killer thrills to be found in SUSPECT ZERO? Or will Jet Li's HERO rise to the challenge? We'll find out in six short days.

Here are the estimated box office receipts of the top twelve films from August 20 through to August 22 with their weekend gross and the movie's total domestic gross to date. New films are signified in red.


BOX OFFICE FRIDAY AUGUST 20 to SUNDAY AUGUST 22, 2004:


1. EXORCIST: THE BEGINNING $18,175,000 $18,175,000
2. WITHOUT A PADDLE $13,700,000 $13,700,000
3. THE PRINCESS DIARIES 2: ROYAL ENGAGEMENT $13,198,000 $61,364,000

4. ALIEN VS. PREDATOR $12,500,000 $63,052,000
5. OPEN WATER $11,750,000 $14,830,000
6. COLLATERAL $10,500,000 $70,100,000
7. THE BOURNE SUPREMACY $6,600,000 $150,600,000
8. THE MANCHURIAN CANDIDATE $4,200,000 $54,726,000
9. THE VILLAGE $3,677,000 $107,003,000
10. GARDEN STATE $3,200,000 $6,689,000
11. YU-GI-OH! $2,870,000 $15,139,000
12. SPIDER-MAN 2 $2,500,000 $365,252,000


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