TOP STORY
'Spider' soars to historic B.O. heights
'Fahrenheit 9/11' continues boffo run
By Gabriel Snyder
Making more money in six days than any film in history, Sony's "Spider-Man 2" sold $180 million worth of tickets since Wednesday, according to studio estimates.
Leading strong box office results over the Independence Day weekend, "Spider-Man" grossed $115.8 million from 4,152 theaters during the 4-day holiday span. In its first six days, "Spider-Man 2" is running $36 million ahead of the 2002 original webslinger saga, which had a total U.S. take of $404 million and $822 worldwide.
While Spidey was responsible for more than half of all biz over the weekend, Michael Moore's controversial doc "Fahrenheit 9/11" continued its boffo run, grossing $21 million over four days after expanding to 1,725 runs. Cume on the doc, which is being distribbed by Lions Gate and IFC Films, now stands at $60.1 million. Largely helped by doubling its runs, pic had a shallow sophomore slump of just 31% Friday through Sunday compared with last week.
"America's Heart and Soul," a doc that had been embraced by conservatives as a counter to Moore's critique of the war on terrorism, opened weakly with just $173,000 from 98 theaters over the four-day span, according to Walt Disney Co. estimates.
Other pics debuting in limited runs did strong business, though, MGM's Cole Porter biopic "De-Lovely" opened with $384,000 from 16 screens over four days, giving it a strong $24,000 per screen average. Castle Rock's "Before Sunset," the first pic from the Warner Independent Pictures label, picked up $303,000 from 20 screens, a $15,150 average. Fox Searchlight's thriller "The Clearing" bowed on 56 screens, earning $647,098 during the frame, a $11,555 average.
Variety Magazine 07/06/04
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