The April opening record, currently held by The Scorpion King, will be
shattered by Anger Management. However, that's not exactly the big
surprise this weekend.
Anger Management
Apparently I was the only person to have seen the entire film in the 97
different TV ads. Anger Management earned an estimated $15.7 million
Friday. That tops the $12.7 million Friday of the Scorpion King, and means
the $38 million April record is not long for this world. Sandler's fanboy
audience always turns out opening night, but the presence of Jack
Nicholson, and the fact that comedies have been hot in 2003 may bring out
a few folks outside of Sandler's usual age range. Give it an even 3.0
multiplier and a $47.1 million.
Rob Zombie's House of 1000 Corpses
This is probably the best opening weekend ever for a film that has
languished in limbo for over two years, gone from distributor to
distributor, been resubmitted to the MPAA several times until it finally
got an R, and then released in less than 600 theaters. Anyway, despite
Anger Management's record breaking weekend, House of 1000 Corpses ends up
the surprise of the weekend, earning an estimated $1.4 million Friday. The
standard horror film weekend multiplier will cause it to miss the upper
half of the top ten, but even making it at all is nothing to sneeze about.
Call it $4 million for the weekend.
Notable Holdovers
Phone Booth drops a surprising 53.8% from last Friday, but should be down
a bit less than 50% for the weekend.
What a Girl Wants shows signs of legginess, as it's down just 32% from
last Friday, and has a decent chance of just a 25% drop of the weekend.
A Man Apart falls a massive 65% from last week, and will probably be down
around that much weekend. Sorry, Vin.
Check back tomorrow for the full weekend estimates and analysis.