| "Agent Cody Banks: Destination London," $6 million 7 million, up 33 percent from the same weekend a year ago
Mel Gibson's "The Passion" took in $19
"We anticipated it would open well and contribute to the total box office, but certainly not at this magnitude," said Rob Schwartz, head of distribution for Newmarket Films, which released "The Passion "Taking Lives," $11 3M
Mar 21, 2:44 PM EST
Audiences feasted on zombies as the fright flick "Dawn of the Dead" ruled the box office, debuting with $27 6 million
4
"Dawn of the Dead" stars Sarah Polley and Ving Rhames in a remake of George Romero's 1979 horror tale about survivors holed up in a shopping mall from a plague of flesh-eating zombies 25 " "But I think the horror genre, that's a genre that's an audience pleaser
"They are dicey," said Nikki Rocco, head of distribution for Universal, which released "Dawn of the Dead Carrey plays a man reliving recollections of a soured romance after he hires a company to erase his memories of his lover, played by Kate Winslet 6 million
Opening in third place with $11 Inc "Starsky & Hutch," $10 4 million was the serial-killer thriller "Taking Lives," starring Angelina Jolie and Ethan Hawke in a tale of an FBI profiler tracking a murderer who assumes victims' identities
Estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co
In narrower release, Jim Carrey's "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" premiered at No "50 First Dates," $4 "The Passion of the Christ," $19 Clearly, everyone's going because they want to see the zombies "Hidalgo," $8
Opening in 2,745 theaters, "Dawn of the Dead" averaged a healthy $9,945 a cinema
1
Remakes have a spotty box-office history, though horror updates such as last year's hit "The Texas Chainsaw Massacre" tend to hold less risk because scary movies have a built-in audience 5 million "Taking Lives" averaged $4,218 in 2,705 theaters, while "Eternal Sunshine" did $6,334 in 1,353 cinemas
10
9 But "Dawn of the Dead" cost just $26 million to make, so surpassing its production budget with the opening weekend gross puts it on track to turn a solid profit The movie passed "The Sixth Sense," which earned $293 "
Scary movies tend to drop steeply in subsequent weekends after hardcore horror fans have seen them 6 million 3 million
3 3 million and bumping "The Passion of the Christ" from the top spot "
Hollywood revenues for the year are at about $1 3 million since opening Feb 2 million, slipping to second place after three straight weekends on top, according to studio estimates Sunday "Secret Window," $9
"The Passion" raised its domestic total to $295 Final figures will be released Monday 'Dawn of the Dead' Debuts With $27
6 with $8
Much of that lift is due to "The Passion," which pulled Hollywood out of an early-year slump 4 million "Confessions of a Teenage Drama Queen," $1 "Dawn of the Dead," $27
5 "Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind," $8 8 billion, 3 to 4 percent ahead of last year's, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations 3 million
6 2 million 5 million
8
7 7 million
The overall box office rose for the fourth straight weekend, with the top 12 movies grossing $109
2 5 million, to take over 18th place on the all-time domestic chart |