‘T3’ rises to the challenge over weekend

Speculation about Arnold Schwarzenegger’s political aspirations aside, moviegoers voted “Terminator 3: Rise of the Machines” the No. 1 movie of the Fourth of July weekend, with an estimated gross of $44 million. Reese Witherspoon’s “Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde” came in second, with an estimated $22.9 million.

Although both of those movies performed up to expectations, DreamWorks’ animated “Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas” had a catastrophic debut, grossing an estimated $6.8 million Friday through Sunday and $10 million since Wednesday.

The movie, which DreamWorks executives said cost $60 million to make, even came in lower than DreamWorks’ ill-fated “The Road to El Dorado,” which opened with $12.8 million in March 2000. Even Disney’s calamitous “Treasure Planet” opened to higher numbers in November last year, with $12.1 million over the three-day Thanksgiving weekend.

“This is our biggest disappointment in animation,” said Jim Tharp, head of DreamWorks’ distribution. “The strength of ‘Finding Nemo’ did dilute our audience. Through tracking we knew we were not reaching our core audience of parents and kids. In a world of CGI animation, it has been difficult to make traditional animated, non-comedies compelling to audiences.”

Indeed, “Finding Nemo” over the weekend became the highest-grossing film of the year, surpassing “The Matrix Reloaded” with $274.9 million in domestic box office alone. The film also bypassed DreamWorks’ $267.7 million “Shrek” as the highest-grossing computer-animated film ever. “The Lion King” still reigns among all animated films, with $312.9 million.

Moviegoing overall remains in a slump, with business down significantly each of the past four weekends, with the current three days down an estimated 8% from the comparable period last year, according to tracking firm Nielsen EDI.

Additionally, box office is down about 4% for the summer, with an estimated $2.04 billion compared with $2.12 billion in 2002, and off 7% for the year, with roughly $4.38 billion versus $4.73 billion at this time last year.

“Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines,” meanwhile, ranked fourth among the holiday’s openings, behind “Independence Day,” “Men in Black II” and “Men in Black,” all of which starred Will Smith. However, “T3” is the biggest July 4 weekend opening for an R-rated film. Since it opened Wednesday, “T3” has grossed an estimated $72.5 million.

It marked the biggest opening ever for Schwarzenegger, who was badly in need of a hit. The Austrian bodybuilder’s last films, “Collateral Damage” and “The Sixth Day,” opened with $15 million and $13 million, respectively, and neither grossed more than $40 million domestically.

Aside from its brand recognition, “T3” benefited from tremendous media attention lavished on Schwarzenneger, who has been dropping hints about running for California governor. Because of the possible recall election confronting Gov. Gray Davis, even the talking-head news shows have been airing clips of Schwarzenegger’s film. But “T3” also received fairly positive reviews as a solid action movie, tightly directed by Jonathan Mostow (“U-571”).

“T3” outgrossed “Terminator 2: Judgment Day,” which opened to $31 million in three days and $52.5 million in its first five days in 1991. Accounting for inflation, the earlier film sold more tickets, but such comparisons are problematic because the only way to gauge attendance figures is to use average admission prices to extrapolate the numbers. In addition, in 1991 there were fewer theaters, screens and seats available, and “T2” basically had the holiday field to itself, because the only other opener was “Problem Child.”

“T3’s” performance was a “sigh of relief,” according to Moritz Bormann, head of Intermedia Films, one of several producers on the film, which cost nearly $200 million.

Making this film was not easy. “T3” producers Andy Vajna and Mario Kassar’s former company went into bankruptcy in 1995. Last year, Kassar agreed to pay $45 million to the IRS to settle tax disputes going back 14 years. The legal quagmire over sequel rights took nearly a decade to sort out.

When Kassar and Vajna finally won the right to produce it, the original film and sequel’s director, James Cameron, refused to participate.

But Intermedia, the filmmakers and merchandisers were confident “T3” would appeal to audiences. On the other side of the fashion scale, Reese Witherspoon’s politically themed comedy “Legally Blonde 2” took in $39.1 million since it opened Wednesday. The original film grossed $20 million over July 13-15, 2000. Witherspoon’s all-American good looks and peppy disposition have made her one of the most reliable female stars at the box office.

“Legally Blonde 2” cost about $40 million to produce and played heavily female, with about 62% of the audience being females under 21.