‘Star Wars’ Is Still a Force for Movie Fans

In what has proved to be the most lucrative moviegoing May ever, a second major blockbuster premiered over the weekend.

After George Lucas cleverly distanced his film from comparisons to the mighty “Spider-Man,” which has been laying waste to record books over the last three weeks, the fifth installment of the “Star Wars” saga, entitled “Episode II Attack of the Clones,” displayed ample evidence of the series’ continued appeal as a pop-cultural phenomenon, capturing an estimated $86.1 million in 3,161 theaters and on about 6,000 screens in its first weekend ($27,254 per theater), the third-highest-grossing three-day weekend ever, behind “Spider-Man” and “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.”

Including the record Thursday gross of $30.1 million and assuming Sunday estimates hold up, “Clones” is already over $116 million in its fourth day of release. “Spider-Man” topped the $100-million mark in three days, but “Star Wars” creator George Lucas deliberately opened on fewer screens (about 1,500 short of “Spider-Man”) to downplay the horse-race aspect. In addition, “Clones” clocked almost $67 million overseas in 74 countries including most of Europe.

“Clones” also demonstrated that there’s room for more than one special-effects blockbuster at a time. The previous “Stars Wars” installment, “Episode I The Phantom Menace,” took five days to get to $100 million. That film went on to gross $431 million in the U.S. and $923 million worldwide.

“Spider-Man” and “Attack of the Clones” have propelled studios and theater owners to a phenomenal May, with the first two weeks alone bringing in more than $400 million, according to the tracking firm Nielsen EDI. The past weekend’s grosses for all movies came to about $175 million, according to Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, almost 80% ahead of the comparable weekend last year.

The month to date is at $581.6 million, about 63% ahead of May 2001. The coming weekend could add another $200 million or more in admissions, surpassing the $185.3 million from last year’s four-day Memorial Day holiday, the current record.

Coming into May, box office totals for the year were at $2.62 billion, about 15% ahead of last year. Adding in the past three weekends, that increase is now at 21%, with $3.23 billion to date.

Returning to the weekend just concluded, “Clones” seems to be getting a warmer reception from critics than “The Phantom Menace,” and more significantly, the fan base is older than for “Spider-Man,” (64% of the audience was over 25 years of age, slightly more male than female, with the family audience accounting for only 44% of admissions). This usually indicates a film will continue to perform strongly.

As with “Spider-Man,” the marketing on “Clones” was designed to create awareness and let hype build through media coverage and Internet chat rooms and discussion groups, and that could be a key factor in their playability over the next several weeks, because there’s no other true “event”-style film on the horizon until the July 3 premiere of the “Men in Black” sequel.

The strategy certainly seems to be working for “Spider-Man,” which continues to defy the odds from weekend to weekend. After its gigantic premiere, “Spidey” slipped only 38% in its second weekend to $71.4 million, declining far less than most other movies that open at such high levels. Even with the fierce competition from “Clones,” the third-weekend drop was again only about 36%, to a still-amazing estimate of $46 million in 3,615 theaters, the largest gross for any movie in its third weekend of release.

“Spider-Man” is now Columbia Pictures’ highest-grossing film ever, surpassing the $250.7 million for “Men in Black.” It also holds the speed record for reaching $250 million in 15 days; it took “Phantom Menace” 19 days to get there.

The 17-day total on “Spider-Man” is an unprecedented $286.5 million, making it the 14th-largest-grossing movie of all time after only three weeks of release. It should reach the $300-million threshold over Memorial Day weekend, which will probably be the first true face-off between “Spider-Man” and “Clones,” in terms of long-haul appeal. But again, with little else in the way of a spectacle on the horizon, the two films might comfortably co-exist throughout the coming month.

Of the other movies currently playing, only one opened over the past weekend, the British comedy “About a Boy” starring Hugh Grant, which got off to a good start of about $8.4 million in 1,207 theaters, playing overwhelmingly to older females. Universal will expand the movie by about 500 locations for the holiday weekend. The second weekend for the adultery drama “Unfaithful,” starring Richard Gere and Diane Lane, was a more-than-acceptable $10.3 million in 2,625 theaters, for a two-week total of about $30 million.

In fifth place, the low-budget teen comedy “The New Guy” took in an additional $6.5 million in its second weekend in 2,687 theaters for $17.3 million in two weeks. After six weeks, “Changing Lanes,” starring Samuel L. Jackson and Ben Affleck, is still cruising, with an estimated $3.1 million and more than $61 million so far, one of the spring’s better performers.

“The Scorpion King” is about exhausted, dropping to $2.7 million in its fifth weekend in 2,555 theaters for a total of $85 million. “The Rookie,” starring Dennis Quaid, has proved a substantial hit, with almost $71 million to date, $2 million of that over the weekend in 1,849 theaters.

“Murder by Numbers” is nearing the end of a middling run, with $1.7 million in 1,580 theaters and $30 million to date. Rounding out the top 10 is “My Big Fat Greek Wedding,” one of the surprises of the specialized market. The weekend brought $1.2 million on only 275 screens and almost $6 million to date.

*

(BEGIN TEXT OF INFOBOX)

Seeing Stars

Here are the top five three-day weekends at the box office.

*--* Earnings Movie (in millions) “Spider-Man” $114.8 “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” $90.3 “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones” $86.1* “Lost World: Jurassic Park” $72.1 “Spider-Man” (second weekend) $71.4

*--*

Clones vs. Spidey

How “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones” and “Spider-Man” compare in per-theater average for their opening weekends.

*--* Average Movie Earnings Theaters “Spider-Man” $31,769 3,615 “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones” $27,254* 3,161

*--*

*Total includes estimated figures for Sunday