Will Smith’s box office valentine to Sony

Will Smith helped Sony Pictures Entertainment pull off a rare feat this weekend, when the studio had the top three movies at the box office: “Hitch,” “Boogeyman” and “Are We There Yet?” The last time a single studio held the top three positions was in September 1989, when Universal had “Sea of Love,” “Uncle Buck” and “Parenthood.” Before that, 1987 had three weekends in which one studio had the No. 1, 2 and 3 movies. With Sony reporting $43.1 million for the three days, “Hitch” also delivered the biggest opening for a romantic comedy (replacing another Sony movie, “50 First Dates,” which drew $39.9 million) and the best Valentine’s Day weekend, and was the seventh Will Smith picture to open with more than $43 million. Brandon Gray, of boxofficemojo.com, reported that the average Will Smith movie opening weekend tally is about $34.3 million, the highest for any actor.

Source: Nielsen EDI Inc.

*--* Movie 3-Day Total Venues Avg. Weeks (Studio) Gross (Millions) Per (Millions) Venue 1 Hitch (Sony) $43.1 $43.1 3,575 $12,068 1

2 Boogeyman (Sony) $10.2 $32.8 3,052 $3,354 2

3 Are We There Yet? $8.2 $61.3 2,810 $2,931 4 (Sony/Revolution)

4 Million Dollar Baby $7.4 $44.9 2,035 $3,660 9 (Warner Bros.)

5 Pooh’s Heffalump $5.8 $5.8 2,529 $2,296 1 Movie (Buena Vista)

6 The Wedding Date $5.5 $19.4 1,704 $3,235 2 (Universal)

7 Hide and Seek (Fox) $5.4 $43.4 2,525 $2,142 3

8 The Aviator $4.7 $82.3 2,196 $2,127 9 (Miramax)

9 Sideways (Fox $4.5 $52.8 1,619 $2,762 17 Searchlight)

10 Meet the Fockers $3.5 $270.0 1,883 $1,835 8 (Universal)

*--*

Los Angeles Times