‘Fast and Furious’ Is Burning Rubber

Helped by tons of free publicity from police agencies, the urban drag-racing drama “The Fast and the Furious” looks to be the summer’s first genuine sleeper, based on its estimated $41.6-million opening weekend. The film sped ahead of “Dr. Dolittle 2,” starring Eddie Murphy, which had to settle for a good second place start of $26.7 million.

The combination of two potent newcomers and at least three other strong performers nationwide heated up box office totals, which soared 40% ahead of last year. If estimates hold, the top 12 movies are expected to gross a sizzling $140 million or so, which is slightly better than the first three days of last month’s record Memorial Day weekend.

“The Fast and the Furious” defied industry tracking surveys, which predicted the film would open in the shadow of the “Doctor Dolittle” sequel. With no heavy-hitter box office names, a medium-sized budget and a predictably male-oriented action concept, director Rob Cohen’s slick racing film is the season’s first major surprise.

Universal Pictures chairwoman Stacey Snider credits her marketing and distribution department for pulling the movie out of a spring slot and plopping it at the beginning of the summer, steadily building awareness for the film through extensive screenings for racing aficionados. TV news reports over the weekend were already labeling the film “a cultural phenomenon,” particularly in light of law enforcement’s preemptive warning campaign against copycat street racing. Sequel-meisters, start your engines.

The audience for “Furious” (playing on 3,067 screens) was overwhelmingly younger than 25 (76%), with a strong Latino and African American contingent. “The ethnic mix of the audience,” said Snider, “reflects the same mix of the film’s cast.” Like “American Pie” and last summer’s cheerleader comedy “Bring It On,” Snider said the company is putting as much effort into launching its lower-budget genre films as its more high-profile movies, such as “The Mummy Returns” and the upcoming “Jurassic Park 3.”

“Dr. 2” (in 2,630 theaters) was no slouch--though it didn’t out-gross the original in its opening weekend as sequels usually do, partly due to “The Fast and the Furious” taking away some of its teen audience. The comedy’s family appeal, however, should carry through to the Fourth of July weekend, when more talking animals will be heard in “Cats and Dogs.” In addition, “Dr. 2” has strong African American appeal, based on Murphy’s stellar credentials, but will have to contend with two other films for the same audience: John Singleton’s inner-city drama “Baby Boy,” which opens Wednesday, and the comedy “Pootie Tang,” starring Chris Rock, which hits theaters on Friday. Then there’s “Scary Movie 2,” with the Wayans brothers, which opens July 4.

It’s more than just higher ticket prices that are propping up those totals. Even taking inflation into account, as of last weekend, overall ticket sales were running about 5% ahead of last summer, according to Paul Dergarabedian, head of box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. The U.S. economy may be in flux, but movie theater owners are feeling no pain. As an export, movies are also prospering overseas, with “The Mummy Returns” and “Pearl Harbor” leading the way. The former has already topped $150 million internationally, and the latter is nearing $100 million.

But a sensational opening weekend is no longer a guarantee of longevity, as has been proven at least once or twice already this summer. The latest example is “Tomb Raider,” which plummeted 58% from its outstanding debut perch to about $20.2 million. With $84 million collected in only 10 days, “Raider,” starring Angelina Jolie, already has recouped its budget but needs to stabilize in the coming weeks.

Disney’s animated summer entry, “Atlantis,” managed to hold its own, attesting to the hunger for family fare. Its second-weekend dip was an acceptable 35%, to an estimated $13.2 million. Summer recess is providing solid midweek business, so “Atlantis” has already grossed more than $44 million after only 10 days. The repeat business Disney family films usually experience, which keeps them in theaters throughout the summer, is somewhat endangered by increased competition for their audience. “Dr. 2” and “Cats and Dogs” will nip at “Atlantis’ ” heels, not to mention the unstoppable “Shrek,” which, in its sixth weekend, was right behind with an expected $11 million, a small 16% drop, and a massive total of almost $216 million to date.

The computer hacker thriller “Swordfish” took a bit of a hit from “The Fast and the Furious,” declining 39% in its third weekend to a deft $7.7-million estimate, for a good 17-day total of $53.2 million.

“Pearl Harbor” seems to have stabilized even as it has begun to lose theaters. The fifth-weekend drop was 35%, to an expected $7 million in 2,668 venues (down by almost 500 screens), bringing its grand total to $172 million. With the extended Fourth of July weekend ahead, “Pearl Harbor” could still have enough fuel to reach the $200-million berth.

Still in eighth place, “Moulin Rouge” is taking advantage of a dearth of female-skewing movies, dropping only 24% in its fourth weekend of national release to $3.8 million and more than $43 million to date. The teen drama “Crazy/Beautiful” will give it a run this coming weekend.

In ninth and 10th places are the comedies “Evolution” and “The Animal”--the former capturing about $3.6 million in its third weekend for a disappointing $32.6 million to date. The latter is rounding out its first month with an expected $3 million and more than $51 million so far--more than enough to make the Rob Schneider comedy a hit.

Though it has dropped out of the top 10, “The Mummy Returns” is still ticking with $1.6 million and is now just over $196 million and should cross $200 million around Independence Day.

The specialized film arena is benefiting from a dearth of counterprogramming titles, led by “Sexy Beast.” The British drama, starring Ben Kingsley, expanded to 57 theaters in its second weekend and took in about $650,000, bringing it to just under $1 million in 10 days. “The Anniversary Party,” written, directed by and starring Jennifer Jason Leigh and Alan Cumming, broadened to 85 runs, grossing an estimated $595,000 and $1.1 million in three weeks.

“The Princess and the Warrior,” from German filmmaker Tom Tykwer (“Run Lola Run”), got off to a viable $54,000 start on three screens in New York and Los Angeles. And last, but not least, is “Memento,” a kind of cultural phenomenon all its own. For the second consecutive weekend, it lost only about 5% from the previous weekend, grossing about $703,000 in only 326 theaters, taking it to just less than $20 million.