‘Star Wars’: The First Five Days

“Star Wars: Episode I The Phantom Menace” by the numbers:

- In its first five days, George Lucas’ “prequel” took in $105,661,237.

- It had the highest opening day and highest single-day box office of all time: $28,542,349.

- It had the best non-holiday weekend gross, and the highest overall three-day gross, in history: $64,810,970, but best weekend is still held by “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” with $72.1 million in 1997.

- It reached the $100-million mark faster than any film in history--five days--beating “The Lost World,” which did it in six days.

- Daily box-office totals: $28.5 million on Wednesday, $12.3 million on Thursday, $18.5 million on Friday, $24.4 million on Saturday, $21.9 million on Sunday.

While some note that “The Phantom Menace” did not live up to expectations, 20th Century Fox Domestic Film Group Chairman Tom Sherak disagreed: “If we wanted to set a record, we would have opened everything on Friday. The reason we opened on Wednesday of a non-holiday week was so the fans could come the first few days and families could come on the weekend. This picture had the highest-grossing day in the entire history of the motion picture business. . . . What are we saying? This is disappointing?”

Weekend Box Office

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Star Wars” $64.8 2,970 1 (Fox) $105.7 $21,822 2. “The Mummy” $13.8 3,276 3 (Universal) $100.2 $4,210 3. “Entrapment” $6.3 2,869 4 (Fox) $59.9 $2,200 4. “The Matrix” $2.9 2,521 8 (Warner Bros.) $149.5 $1,141 5. “The Love Letter” $2.7 769 1 (DreamWorks) $2.7 $3,502 6. “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” $2.6 1,093 2 (Fox Searchlight) $8.2 $2,387 7. “Never Been Kissed”’ $1.74 1,888 7 (Fox) $46.2 $924 8. “Black Mask” $1.66 988 2 (Artisan) $7.3 $1,686 9. “Life” $1.56 1,720 6 (Universal) $57.5 $910 10. “Election” $1.5 827 5 (Paramount) $9.2 $1,783 * “Besieged” $159,289 36 1 (Fine Line) $159,289 $4,425 ** “Frogs and Snakes” $12,191 29 1 (Artisan) $12,191 $420

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.