DISNEY STRIKES IT RICHEST '03 ALSO GOLDEN MOVIE YEAR FOR SONY, WARNER, OTHERS.

Byline: Greg Hernandez Staff Writer

In the race for movie studio supremacy, Disney took a big lead during the summer on the strength of ``Finding Nemo'' and ``The Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl'' and never relinquished it. This resulted in a spectacular $1.5 billion in domestic grosses and gave the studio its biggest year ever at the box office.

Back-to-back $300 million grossers in ``Nemo'' and ``Pirates'' highlighted a record year for Disney, which also had the comedies ``Bringing Down the House'' and ``Freaky Friday'' taking in more than $100 million each and the animated ``Brother Bear'' earning $82 million to date.

In scoring its eighth $1 billion year in 10 years, Disney also benefited from a series of profitable medium-size hits, including ``Holes'' ($67.3 million), ``Open Range'' ($58.3 million), ``The Recruit'' ($52.7 million) and ``Under the Tuscan Sun'' ($42.9 million).

``Anytime you set a record, it's thrilling,'' said Chuck Viane, president of Disney's Buena Vista Distribution. ``We've had a streak of success over the decade, but to have the biggest year in the company's history on the strength of a really balanced slate, it's just terrific.''

Meanwhile, Sony Pictures Entertainment and Warner Bros. engaged in a neck-and-neck battle for second place until the last weekend of the year, when Sony was able to edge past Warner by having two films finish in the top 10 over the Christmas holiday. Final 2003 year numbers will be available Friday but are not expected to affect the rankings.

Box office analyst Brandon Gray said Tuesday that Sony - with ``Something's Gotta Give,'' ``Mona Lisa Smile'' and ``Big Fish'' - simply had stronger-performing movies down the stretch than Warner's December releases, ``The Last Samurai'' and ``Love Don't Cost A Thing.''

``Sony's films are still young in the marketplace and hitting the stride, and that was the key difference for the end of the year,'' said Gray, editor of Boxofficemojo.com.

Last year Sony was the undisputed studio champ as it crossed the $1 billion mark in July. Sony had a record nine No. 1 openers this year, which propelled it to second place. While none of the studio's films crossed the $200 million mark, ``Bad Boys II,'' ``Anger Management,'' ``S.W.A.T.,'' ``Daddy Day Care'' and ``Charlie's Angels Full Throttle'' all topped $100 million.

``I think to follow up - after a record year like we had last year - with box office close to $1.2 billion is pretty amazing,'' said Rory Bruer, Sony's president of domestic distribution. ``We had some really big hits. Then we had a number of diverse, smaller films that were successful, like 'Darkness Falls,' 'Identity,' 'Once Upon A Time In Mexico' and 'Underworld.'''

But Sony also had to endure the release of the year's most notorious bomb, ``Gigli,'' which, suffering from scathing reviews and backlash against stars Ben Affleck and Jennifer Lopez, grossed a meager $6 million.

Third-place Warner Bros. had contended strongly for No. 2, mainly on the strength of its two sequels to 1999's ``The Matrix.'' ``The Matrix Reloaded,'' including an IMAX version, bowed in May and earned an impressive $281.5 million. Coming out just six months later, ``The Matrix Revolutions'' could not begin to match that total but has managed to earn $137.9 million to date.

Warner had a solid hit with Arnold Schwarzenegger's ``Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines,'' but Tom Cruise's ``The Last Samurai'' has not performed as well as expected ($76.1 million to date). The studio also suffered through some resounding flops, including ``Alex and Emma,'' ``The In-Laws'' and ``Loony Tunes: Back in Action.''

Fourth-place Universal Pictures scored big with ``Bruce Almighty,'' a smash comedy starring Jim Carrey that grossed a stellar $242.5 million. The studio also had $100 million-plus grossers with ``2 Fast 2 Furious,'' ``Seabiscuit'' and ``American Wedding,'' as well as with a film that was nevertheless considered a disappointment: ``The Hulk'' with its big budget and horrible word of mouth.

In addition, Universal's live-action version of ``The Cat in the Hat,'' panned by critics, should be joining the $100 million club in the coming weeks.

``No other studio has had the average gross per film that we have,'' said Universal's distribution head, Nikki Rocco. ``We are thrilled with the results.''

New Line Cinema had not only the final two chapters of ``The Lord of the Rings'' trilogy to take to the bank, but also a series of other hits that led the studio to a strong fifth-place finish. ``Rings'' finale ``The Return of the King'' has brought in a stunning $232.2 million in less than two weeks while the smash comedy ``Elf'' has been in the top 10 for eight consecutive weeks and earned $165.5 million to date.

``It's been about bringing the right kind of product into the marketplace at the right time,'' said Rolf Mittweg, New Line's president and chief operating officer of worldwide distribution and marketing. ```Elf' was the perfect family film, and its early November release gave us a jump-start on all the other films.''

For sixth-place 20th Century Fox, the year ended on a bright note with the surprise success of the family comedy ``Cheaper by the Dozen,'' which is off to a stellar start, making $42 million in five days. The studio had a major summer blockbuster in ``X2: X-Men United'' and scored in February with the big-screen adaptation of the Marvel comic ``Daredevil.''

``It's been a terrific year for us with great successes and very few failures,'' said Bruce Snyder, Fox's president of domestic distribution. ``It's been about trying to put out the right product at the right time.''

Seventh-place Paramount Pictures had such bright spots as the hit comedy ``School of Rock,'' the action caper ``The Italian Job'' and the romantic comedy ``How To Lose A Guy in 10 Days.'' But they were not nearly enough to offset way too many bombs, including ``Beyond Borders,'' ``Timeline'' and ``Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life.''

Miramax Films finished the year in eighth place while its specialty division, Dimension Films, took the 10th spot on the strength of its comedy smash ``Scary Movie 3.'' Finishing in between at No. 9 was MGM, which had a series of medium-size hits but no blockbusters.

Greg Hernandez, [phone]

greg.hernandez(at)dailynews.com

CAPTION(S):

photo, box

Photo:

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Box:

STUDIO SUPREMACY

Source: Boxofficemojo.com

Jon Gerung/Staff Artist