War of the Worlds 101.7 Million

[strandinthewind]

Well Diss. - not astounding - but pretty good

with tommorow's sales, maybe $120
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'War of the Worlds' wins box office battle

LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) -- Tom Cruise celebrated his 43rd birthday Sunday atop the holiday box office in North America with "War of the Worlds," the costly alien-invasion thriller directed by Steven Spielberg.

The film sold $101.7 million worth of tickets during its first five days of release, distributor Paramount Pictures said Sunday, a solid number but far short of the record $152 million that "Spider-Man 2" earned during the same time frame of last year's Independence Day holiday weekend.

"War of the Worlds" did, however, beat the opening mark of incumbent box office champion "Batman Begins," which earned $72.9 million during its first five days two weeks ago, albeit without the benefit of a holiday crowd.

Because the year-ago period set a record for July 4 holiday sales, the weekend box office is expected to fall for a 19th consecutive weekend. A clearer picture will emerge Monday, because most studios did not report figures Sunday. "Batman Begins" led the box office last weekend with $27.6 million.

"War of the Worlds," budgeted at about $135 million, began its campaign Wednesday with $21.3 million, topping the $15 million Wednesday start of "Batman Begins," but not the $40 million bow of "Spider-Man 2."

Saturday's sales of $22.7 million represent the biggest single-day haul for both Paramount and Cruise, said the studio, a unit of Viacom Inc.

For the "traditional" three-day period beginning Friday, the film earned $66 million, the second-highest number for 2005, behind the $108.4 million weekend for "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith." That film opened on a Thursday with midnight screenings, making comparisons with "War" difficult.

"War of the Worlds" also opened globally Wednesday, and has earned $75 million overseas during its first four days, Paramount said. A five-day figure will be issued later Sunday.

Some Hollywood commentators have speculated that the movie's prospects could be hurt by Cruise's unorthodox publicity campaign. The usually strait-laced actor has raised eyebrows by giddily professing his love for fiancee Katie Holmes, and defiantly extolling the superiority of Scientology over psychiatry.

But the critics liked the movie, which is based on the novel by Victorian writer H.G. Wells. Cruise plays a blue-collar worker who flees with his two children from aliens who are destroying everything in their path. Paramount partnered on the project with DreamWorks SKG, of which Spielberg is a founding partner.


Find this article at:
http://www.cnn.com/2005/SHOWBIZ/Movi...eut/index.html