Julia and Brad Prove Too Much for ‘Hannibal’

It was Julia Roberts’ fifth-best opening ever and Brad Pitt’s second. Together, they added up to the weekend’s best box office as their new film, “The Mexican,” grossed $20.1 million to take first place. Despite mixed reviews and not as much on-screen fireworks as the trailers would suggest, “The Mexican” easily beat “Hannibal,” which has reigned as No. 1 at the box office the three previous weeks. “Hannibal” fell to second place, grossing $10.1 million.

The family comedy “See Spot Run” debuted in third place with $9.7 million.

“The Mexican” fell short of Roberts’ March opening last year, when “Erin Brockovich” debuted with $28.1 million in ticket sales.

Overall, the year-to-date box office is up about 26% compared to last year at this time, boding well for the coming summer.

“Last weekend was another good weekend for box office,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. “This is the 21st weekend in a row that we have exceeded the comparable weekend the year before.”

He said the overall box office this past weekend was about 9% better than the previous year, which saw ticket sales of $82.7 million.

Weekend Box Office

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (studio) Total (millions) Average release 1. “The Mexican” $20.1 2,951 1 (DreamWorks) $20.1 $6,814 2. “Hannibal” $10.1 3,272 4 (MGM) $142.8 $3,072 3. “See Spot Run” $9.7 2,656 1 (Warner Bros.) $9.7 $3,658 4. “Down to Earth” $7.8 2,521 3 (Paramount) $43.9 $3,100 5. “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” $4.9 1,751 13 (Sony Classics) $88.7 $2,802 6. “Traffic” $4.5 1,638 10 (USA Films) $92.3 $2,732 7. “Chocolat” $4.2 1,857 12 (Miramax) $45.7 $2,262 8.”Recess: School’s Out” $4.0 2,503 3 (Disney) $27.6 $1,583 9. “3000 Miles to Graceland” $3.1 2,545 2 (Warner Bros.) $12.3 $1,222 10. “Sweet November” $2.3 2,037 3 (Warner Bros.) $21.4 $1,117

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SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.