`STAR' BUCKS 'CLONES' TAKES IN $30.1 MILLION ON OPENING DAY.Byline: Greg GREG Great Egg Harbor National Scenic and Recreational River (US National Park Service) Hernandez Staff Writer ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' recorded the largest weekday box office gross in movie history Thursday Thursday: see week. , collecting a spectacular $30.1 million in sales on its opening day. The impressive mark falls well short of the $39.9 million record set two weeks ago by ``Spider-Man  Editing of this page by unregistered or newly registered users is currently disabled due to vandalism. ,'' but that film had the
advantage of opening on a Friday and on at least 1,000 more screens.
Friday box office grosses are counted as part of the weekend.
The fifth installment of the ``Star Wars'' franchise managed to break the previous weekday record set three years ago by ``Star Wars: Episode I: The Phantom Menace'' which opened on a Wednesday and took in $28.5 million. Distributor 20th Century Fox said Friday that the numbers were boosted by midnight showings that drew scores of the franchise's biggest devotees, some of whom had camped out in line for weeks. ``Thursday was really about the serious fans,'' said Bruce Snyder Bruce Snyder (born March 14, 1940 in Santa Monica, California) was the head football coach of Utah State University from 1976 to 1982. He was the head football coach of the University of California from 1987 to 1991. , president of distribution at Fox. ``We weren't trying to set a record but it turned out to be the biggest weekday number ever.'' It was also the biggest debut of any of the five ``Star Wars'' films and the third-largest opening day in film history behind only ``Spider-Man'' and ``Harry Potter A potter is someone who makes pottery. Potter may also refer to: People
The film was directed by ``Star Wars'' creator George Lucas Noun 1. George Lucas - United States screenwriter and filmmaker (born in 1944) Lucas and produced by his Lucasfilm company. ``This is a strong indicator of the pent-up demand by audiences for anything Lucas,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. ``If you have Lucas and a 'Star Wars' movie in the summer, you cannot miss. There is so much pedigree pedigree Record of ancestry or purity of breed. Pedigrees of domesticated animals are maintained by governmental or private record associations or breed organizations in many countries. and history behind these films.'' There had been much speculation in recent days about how ``Clones'' would stack up to blazing box office phenomenon ``Spider-Man,'' which has grossed an unprecedented $240.5 million in just its first 13 days of release. Dergarabedian said the opening day numbers bode bode 1 v. bod·ed, bod·ing, bodes v.tr. 1. To be an omen of: heavy seas that boded trouble for small craft. 2. quite well for ``Attack of the Clones.'' ``This is another historical gross within the last two weeks,'' Dergarabedian said. ``We've been spoiled by all this interest in these movies that are creating these huge dollar amounts.'' ``Clones'' played in 3,161 locations and on more than 6,000 screens for a whopping per-screen average of $9,535. ``Spider-Man,'' from Sony Pictures Entertainment, has been playing on more than 7,000 screens on its way to smashing records including a $114.8 million opening weekend take. Dergarabedian believes that even if ``Clones'' doesn't come near to matching those numbers this weekend, it has history on its side and should enjoy a long and successful run. All of the four previous ``Star Wars'' movies are among the highest grossing films of all time, with ``The Phantom Menace'' in fourth place on the all-time list. Judging from the advanced online ticket sales, a strong opening weekend is all but assured for ``Clones.'' Santa Monica-based Fandango fandango (făndăng`gō), ancient Spanish dance, probably of Moorish origin, that came into Europe in the 17th cent. It is in triple time and is danced by a single couple to the accompaniment of castanets, guitar, and songs sung by the Inc. said Friday that it sold $2.5 million in advanced sales for ``Clones.'' By Thursday, 98 percent of all tickets being sold on Fandango were for ``Clones.'' Florida-based MovieTickets.com sold an unprecedented 402,364 online tickets for ``Clones'' prior to opening day, more than the total for ``Spider-Man.'' The company has been selected by Lucasfilm to provide exclusive listings and ticketing via the Web site StarWars.com. The third major player in online ticketing, AOL (A division of Time Warner, Inc., New York, NY, www.aol.com) The world's largest online information service with access to the Internet, e-mail, chat rooms and a variety of databases and services. Moviefone, reported Friday that during the opening day of ``Clones,'' the service was selling a ticket per second for the movie. ``Clones'' also outsold out·sold v. Past tense and past participle of outsell. ``Spider-Man'' by 4-1 when comparing opening day orders for each film. CAPTION(S): box Box: BIGGEST OPENINGS EVER Daily News |
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