Star Power and Marketing Drive ‘Ocean’s Eleven’

Warner Bros. did what it does best, utilizing star power and savvy marketing to blitz the competition as its star-studded crime caper “Ocean’s Eleven” grossed $38.1 million to claim the No. 1 ranking.

“Warner Bros. did an excellent job of marketing the film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. “They had the cast on the Barbara Walters show about a month ago. Then the cast visited U.S. troops overseas and they got a lot of press over that. And Brad Pitt was on [the Warner Bros. TV series] ‘Friends.’ It was a lot of exposure for that movie and those stars.”

“Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” grossed $14.7 million, dropping 38% from the previous weekend, but still a long way from the 59% plunge in box office experienced last week.

Weekend Box Office

(tabular data not included)

Robert W. Welkos