‘Hulk’ Transforms Into Box Office Champ
LOS ANGELES – “The Hulk” was a monster at the box office in its debut weekend, with the comic-book adaptation taking in a June opening record of $62.6 million.
The action flick about a scientist turned into a raging green beast by a lab accident took over the top box-office spot from the animated fish tale “Finding Nemo,” which slipped to second place with a weekend take of $20.5 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
The weekend’s other new wide releases opened quietly. Rob Reiner’s romantic comedy “Alex & Emma,” starring Kate Hudson and Luke Wilson, debuted at No. 7 with $6.2 million.
“From Justin to Kelly,” a romance starring “American Idol” winner Kelly Clarkson and runner-up Justin Guarini, opened at No. 11 with only $2.9 million.
“The Hulk” had the highest gross ever for a June opening, surpassing the previous record of $54.9 million for “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me.” But taking today’s higher admission prices into account, “Austin Powers” sold slightly more tickets in its opening weekend than “The Hulk.”
“The Hulk,” starring Eric Bana, Jennifer Connelly and Nick Nolte, was directed by Ang Lee, best known for “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” Many critics credited Lee with bringing a deeper sense of brooding character to the movie than other comic-book adaptations have had.
Distributor Universal Studios said the opening-weekend audience was evenly split between people under and over 25, as the movie drew the young action-flick crowd as well as adults who remember the comic book and “Incredible Hulk” TV series.
Despite the June record, revenue for “The Hulk” came in well below that of last month’s Marvel Comics adaptation, “X2: X-Men United,” which grossed $85.6 million in its opening weekend.
“The Hulk” did exceed the numbers for the first “X-Men” movie, which opened with $54.5 million.
“The Hulk” continues a string of comic-book successes. Last year, “Spider-Man” opened with a record $114.8 million debut weekend, while other hits include “Daredevil” and the “Blade” movies. Coming next year are a “Spider-Man” sequel and “The Punisher,” also based on Marvel comics.
“The comic-book genre seems to be one of the most consistent performers,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. “Audiences are pretty satisfied with what they’re seeing, and they keep going back. I don’t know if that’ll last forever, but it emboldens the creative types at studios to keep making these.”
Here are the estimated ticket sales for Friday through Sunday at North American theaters, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. Final figures will be released Monday.
1. “The Hulk,” $62.6 million.
2. “Finding Nemo,” $20.5 million.
3. “2 Fast 2 Furious,” $10.3 million.
4. “Bruce Almighty,” $10 million.
5. “The Italian Job,” $7.2 million.
6. “Rugrats Go Wild,” $6.7 million.
7. “Alex & Emma,” $6.2 million.
8. “Hollywood Homicide,” $5.8 million.
9. “Dumb and Dumberer: When Harry Met Lloyd,” $4.3 million.
10. “The Matrix Reloaded,” $4.05 million.
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