SURF'S UP: The Fantastic Four sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, has risen to the top of the US box office. Subscribe to Archivestuff Have your say Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer caught a wave of moviegoers to the No. 1 spot at the weekend North American box office, according to studio estimates as of Sunday morning.
The sequel to the Fantastic Four outperformed its predecessor, and will have a three-day gross of $US57.4 million ($NZ76.3 million) for its distributor, 20th Century Fox, said Chris Aronson, senior vice president of distribution for Fox.
In July 2005, Fantastic Four grossed $US56 million in its first three days for 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.. "We did fantastically, pun intended," Aronson said.
"The silver lining is that it outperformed the first one. It worked from Fairbanks to Fort Lauderdale and everywhere in between. It worked in big cities.
It worked in small towns." Fairbanks is in Alaska and Fort Lauderdale is in southeast Florida, spanning most of the North American market where the movie was shown on 3959 screens that averaged $US15,000 per location, Aronson said. The live-action flick based on the Marvel Comics series pits the four superheroes against an intergalactic surfing menace who was also part of the Marvel Comics catalog many baby boomers grew up reading.
Fox deliberately made a film that would be rated "PG" rather than the more-restrictive "PG-13" to capture more of the family dollar. "Yes, we made a concerted effort to make this more of a family film and that's reflected in its performance, no doubt," Aronson said. Aronson predicted a continued strong showing this week, which is the first full week of summer vacation for many North American schoolchildren.
Dropping from the top spot to No. 2, with an estimated three-day gross of $US19.1 million, was Ocean's Thirteen, released by Time Warner Inc.
The third film in the series teaming George Clooney and company with director Steven Soderbergh has a 10-day gross of about $US69.8 million, said Dan Fellman, head of domestic distribution for Warner Bros. The surprise of the weekend may be that Universal Pictures' comedy Knocked Up remained a strong No.
3 in this third week of distribution by the General Electric Co's NBC Universal unit. Knocked Up will take in an estimated $US14.5 million Friday-to-Sunday and has so far grossed $US90.
5 million, according to Paul Dergarabedian of Media by Numbers. "Knocked Up is holding really well," said Dergarabedian. "It only dropped 26 per cent in its third weekend.
Usually movies drop more like 50 per cent this far along. It's an alternative to the summer-style blockbusters." Other than the top-grossing movie, the only other wide release that premiered over the weekend, Nancy Drew, was No.
7, near what industry analysts had predicted. It will gross $US7.1 million Friday-to-Sunday, said its distributor, Warner Brothers.
4 spot went to Walt Disney Co's Pirates of the Caribbean: At World's End, the third of the Pirates series starring Johnny Depp, at $US12 million and a gross of $US273.8 million. The film is in its fourth week of release.
Sony Pictures' animated Surf's Up was No. 5 in its second week at $US9.3 million and a 10-day total of $34.
7 million. Sony Pictures is a unit of Sony Corp..
6 was one-time blockbuster Shrek the Third from DreamWorks Animation SKG, which will take in $US9 million and has a total gross of $US281.5 million. It is in its fifth week of release.
SURF'S UP: The Fantastic Four sequel, Rise of the Silver Surfer, has risen to the top of the US box office.
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