'X-2' HITS $100 MILLION IN SIX DAYS.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

Taking just six days, ``X2: X-Men United'' became the fastest film released so far in 2003 to reach the $100 million mark, according to box office figures released Thursday.

The 20th Century Fox sequel to ``X-Men'' earned $4.9 million in box office revenue Wednesday to up its cumulative gross to $103 million. ``X2'' opened last weekend with an impressive $85.5 million in ticket sales, the fourth-biggest opening of all time.

``Even in today's jaded world of box office where people become used to films opening at $80 million-plus and nobody bats an eyelash, a six-day sprint to $100 million in box office is still an impressive achievement,'' said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office tracker Exhibitor Relations Co. ``There's not that many films in that sub-seven-day club of films that make $100 million in less than a week.''

A year ago, ``Spider-Man'' set the all-time record of $100 million box- office sprinters by reaching that amount after just three days in theaters, while ``Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones'' took four days. In all, only nine films have ever reached the milestone in six days or less.

The other 2003 releases to earn at least $100 million took far longer than ``X2.'' They are ``Anger Management'' (three weeks); ``Bringing Down the House'' (four weeks); ``How To Lose A Guy In 10 Days'' (8 weeks); and ``Daredevil''(7.5 weeks).

Helping along the fast grosses for ``X2'' was the widest release ever for a film: a record 3,741 locations accounting for 62 percent of the nation's approximately 6,000 theaters.

The Eddie Murphy comedy ``Daddy Day Care,'' a Sony Pictures Entertainment release opening today, will be the only major new release competing with ``X2'' this weekend before the highly anticipated sequel ``The Matrix Reloaded'' from Warner Bros. comes out on May 15.