‘Star Wars’ Launches Record Weekend

“Star Wars” continued its domination to lead the box office to what is expected to have been the best four-day Presidents Day weekend total ever.

“This is a tremendous weekend, and of course it’s all led by ‘Star Wars,’ ” said Exhibitor Relations President John Krier Monday. “It’s going to be a record-breaker.”

Although final figures won’t be available until today, the weekends grosses were expected to easily exceed last year’s four-day take of $95.4 million, Krier said.

“Star Wars” continued its reign with a spectacular $21.3 million estimated for the four days, which would bring its three-week total in re-release to a whopping $98.6 million. That would make the movie’s all-time gross climb to $421.3 million; last week it surpassed Steven Spielberg’s $399.8-million take for “ET” to become the highest grossing movie of all time.

Clint Eastwood’s “Absolute Power,” which was greeted with mixed reviews, was expected to take second place at the box office, with an estimated $16.2 million on 2,568 screens.

“Dante’s Peak,” the volcano disaster film in its second week of release, apparently was third with a projected $14.3 million on 2,727 screens. “Star Wars” was showing on 2,104 screens.

The fourth through six spots all seem to have gone to new releases, according to Monday’s estimates: Chevy Chase’s “Vegas Vacation,” fourth with $13.1 million; “Fools Rush In,” with Salma Hayek and Matthew Perry, fifth with $9.7 million; and Disney’s “That Darn Cat,” sixth with an expected $6.5 million.

Also of note, “The English Patient,” which received 12 Oscar nominations last week, apparently rose from 14th to eighth place with a take of $5 million, and “Shine,” which got seven nominations, apparently moved from 13th to 10th place with $3.5 million.