All the OVER bets at various off shore books were soft.
[size=+1]THIS WEEKEND [/size]Legions of George Lucas fans lined up and drove the much-anticipated Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith to the top of the North American charts shattering all kinds of box office records in the process and giving the film industry the jolt that was sorely needed. The final installment in the six-part sci-fi epic grossed a record estimate of $158.5M over its four-day Thursday-to-Sunday opening weekend domestically and set a new global milestone debuting with a towering $303.2M worldwide since its Wednesday launch in certain territories.
It was the largest four-day opening ever eclipsing the $134.3M of The Matrix Reloaded from two years ago this month and also soared higher than the $110.2M of Episode II from 2002. Episode III grossed a stunning estimate of $108.5M over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday portion of the frame while playing in 3,661 theaters for a scorching $29,637 per-theater average. If estimates hold, it will rank as the second largest Fri-to-Sun performance behind the $114.8M of Spider-Man in 2002 which launched on a Friday rather than a Thursday like Sith. However, it is likely that when final numbers are released on Monday, Episode III will enter the record books in third place in this category behind the webslinger and Shrek 2 which bowed this weekend a year ago with $108M over the three-day portion of its five-day launch.
Revenge of the Sith was met with some of the best reviews from critics that the new trilogy has seen. The PG-13 concluding chapter brought back the current cast including Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Samuel L. Jackson. Comparing opening weekends for blockbusters that debut on different days is of course like comparing apples and oranges given that the largest openers have huge fan bases that rush out the second a film hits screens. Episode III grossed $124.7M in its first three days of release which sets a new three-day record beating Spider-Man. The Anakin film also smashed the opening day record with a towering $50M on Thursday which included $16.9M from midnight shows on Wednesday night. On Friday, Sith sales dropped an understandable 33% to $33.8M then climbed 21% to $40.9M on Saturday. Fox is projecting a slim 17% drop on Sunday back to $33.8M.
With intense demand for the sixth and final Star Wars tale, Episode III entered the marketplace with more than 50% more screens than Episode II from three years ago - 9,400 vs 6,000. Not surprisingly, Sith is absorbing more ticket sales upfront. Episode II witnessed a 22% drop from Saturday to Sunday so if Episode III behaves in a similar manner, it will stand closer to $106M over the Friday-to-Sunday period - still a jaw-dropping figure
[size=+1]THIS WEEKEND [/size]Legions of George Lucas fans lined up and drove the much-anticipated Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith to the top of the North American charts shattering all kinds of box office records in the process and giving the film industry the jolt that was sorely needed. The final installment in the six-part sci-fi epic grossed a record estimate of $158.5M over its four-day Thursday-to-Sunday opening weekend domestically and set a new global milestone debuting with a towering $303.2M worldwide since its Wednesday launch in certain territories.
It was the largest four-day opening ever eclipsing the $134.3M of The Matrix Reloaded from two years ago this month and also soared higher than the $110.2M of Episode II from 2002. Episode III grossed a stunning estimate of $108.5M over the traditional Friday-to-Sunday portion of the frame while playing in 3,661 theaters for a scorching $29,637 per-theater average. If estimates hold, it will rank as the second largest Fri-to-Sun performance behind the $114.8M of Spider-Man in 2002 which launched on a Friday rather than a Thursday like Sith. However, it is likely that when final numbers are released on Monday, Episode III will enter the record books in third place in this category behind the webslinger and Shrek 2 which bowed this weekend a year ago with $108M over the three-day portion of its five-day launch.
Revenge of the Sith was met with some of the best reviews from critics that the new trilogy has seen. The PG-13 concluding chapter brought back the current cast including Hayden Christensen, Ewan McGregor, Natalie Portman, and Samuel L. Jackson. Comparing opening weekends for blockbusters that debut on different days is of course like comparing apples and oranges given that the largest openers have huge fan bases that rush out the second a film hits screens. Episode III grossed $124.7M in its first three days of release which sets a new three-day record beating Spider-Man. The Anakin film also smashed the opening day record with a towering $50M on Thursday which included $16.9M from midnight shows on Wednesday night. On Friday, Sith sales dropped an understandable 33% to $33.8M then climbed 21% to $40.9M on Saturday. Fox is projecting a slim 17% drop on Sunday back to $33.8M.
With intense demand for the sixth and final Star Wars tale, Episode III entered the marketplace with more than 50% more screens than Episode II from three years ago - 9,400 vs 6,000. Not surprisingly, Sith is absorbing more ticket sales upfront. Episode II witnessed a 22% drop from Saturday to Sunday so if Episode III behaves in a similar manner, it will stand closer to $106M over the Friday-to-Sunday period - still a jaw-dropping figure
