‘Godzilla’ Gobbles Up $55 Million

“Godzilla,” with a $44.5 million Friday-Sunday gross, jumped into the record books as the eighth-highest three-day weekend debut of all time. All told, “Godzilla” raked in an estimated $55.5 million for the four-day Memorial Day weekend, and $74 million in its first six days, including Tuesday night previews.

The monster film established a pattern closer to the $180-million grosser “Mission: Impossible” than $230-million “The Lost World.” But since “Lost” and “Mission” are the biggest Memorial Day weekend performers ever, “Godzilla” was in great company.

Final figures for the weekend will be available Tuesday.

More than 57% of all movie patrons over the weekend chose to see “Godzilla,” which accounted for a per screen average of almost $17,000. The film is playing well across the board, according to Sony’s distribution chief Jeff Blake, and “through the roof” to young males, the motion picture industry’s most sought after demographic. So while “Godzilla” didn’t do as well as “Mission,” which was also in fewer theaters, young males are the audience that returns to movies repeatedly, boosting its chances of longevity.

Ticket sales for Memorial Day weekend were down significantly--about 25%--from last year, when “The Lost World” alone rang up more than $90 million. The top three films this year didn’t gross that much.

Surprisingly, “Godzilla” did not demolish “Deep Impact” at the box office. The early-bird summer disaster entry, which debuted May 8, still managed $19 million over the four-day period, bringing its total to just under $100 million ($98.5 million). That it survived the “Godzilla” onslaught indicates the film will do much better than originally anticipated.

The Memorial Day weekend’s other major arrivals were Warren Beatty’s well-received political satire, “Bulworth,” and the poorly reviewed screen translation of Hunter Thompson’s “Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas,” starring Johnny Depp.

Critical approbation carried “Bulworth” to $10.6 million over the four-day holiday in 2,048 theaters, primarily in big cities, according to 20th Century Fox senior executive Thomas Sherak. Whether word of mouth will filter from the coasts into the heartland remains to be seen.

“Fear and Loathing” brought in a poor $4.2 million on 1,126 screens, leaving Universal Pictures, which hasn’t had a hit of late, still searching for a moneymaker. And Warner Bros.’ animated “Quest for Camelot” declined in its second weekend, even though kids were out of school for the holiday, pulling in an estimated $5.7 million in 3,107 theaters--only $1,831 per screen; its cumulative total is only $13.1 million since its release May 15. “Quest,” it appears, will just mark time until the arrival of Disney’s “Mulan” in mid-June and perhaps show some signs of life on video.

Robert Redford’s “‘The Horse Whisperer,” which opened May 15, competed with “Bulworth” for the adult audience but had romance on its side, which was good enough for an estimated $13.7 million for the holiday period in 2,049 theaters (almost $6,500 a theater), exactly what the film made in its first three-day weekend. In less than two weeks, “Horse Whisperer” has amassed $32.3 million.

Getting a new lease on life from the holiday was “Titanic,” which climbed to $3.7 million (2,008 theaters) as apparently some of the few Americans who haven’t already seen it decided to take the plunge. “Titanic” is nearing the unprecedented $600-million gross mark in the U.S., with only $23 million to go.

Also benefiting from date-night patrons was “City of Angels,” which grabbed another $3.1 million over the weekend, taking it over the $70-million level. It opened April 10.

Rounding out the Top 10 films were Spike Lee’s “‘He Got Game,” which grossed $1.7 million in 1,244 sites for $19 million to date (it opened May 1), and two films that tied for 10th place, “Sliding Doors,” starring Gwyneth Paltrow, with $1.3 million ($8 million since it opened May 1), and “Woo,” starring Jada Pinkett Smith, with $1.3 million ($6.6 million since its May 8 opening).