‘Tomb Raider’ Looks Lively

Paramount’s “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” may have missed with most critics, but it proved a big hit with audiences, opening No. 1 over the weekend with $47.7 million in ticket sales.

“There has never been a movie based on a video game that has earned over $100 million, but I think it’s a foregone conclusion that ‘Tomb Raider’ will,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box office tracking firm, Exhibitor Relations Co. He noted that the closest any moved based on a video game has come to being a blockbuster is the 1999 animated Warner Bros. film “Pokemon,” which grossed $85.8 million in North America.

Meanwhile, the weekend had to be sobering for Walt Disney Co., which saw its big summer animated feature, “Atlantis: The Lost Empire,” come in a distant second with $20.3 million. “Sexy Beast” from Fox Searchlight made $170,355 over the weekend in limited release.

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Lara Croft: Tomb Raider” $47.7 3,308 1 (Paramount) $47.7 $14,430 2. “Atlantis: The Lost Empire” $20.3 3,011 2 (Disney) $20.8 $6,756 3. “Shrek” $13.2 3,317 5 (DreamWorks) $197.5 $3,974 4. “Swordfish” $12.7 2,688 2 (Warner Bros.) $39.8 $4,734 5. “Pearl Harbor” $9.9 3,140 4 (Disney/Touchstone) $160.4 $3,140 6. “Evolution” $6.6 2,613 2 (DreamWorks) $25.6 $2,532 7. “The Animal” $5.8 2,741 3 (Sony/Columbia) $45.5 $2,118 8. “Moulin Rouge” $5.0 2,084 5 (Fox) $36.6 $2,414 9. “What’s the Worst That Could Happen?” $3.0 1,927 3 (MGM) $27.7 $1,560 10.”The Mummy Returns” $2.7 1,777 7 (Universal) $193.5 $1,520 “Sexy Beast”* $170,355 9 1 (Fox Searchlight) $214,542 $18,928

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*Opened Wednesday

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.