‘Spider-Man 2′ Set for $40 Million-Plus Weekend
LOS ANGELES (Hollywood Reporter) – “Spider-Man 2” once again will dominate the box office this weekend, riding its stellar reviews, strong performances and special effects to new records for a second straight week.
The film, which is likely to reap an additional $40 million-$45 million for the three days beginning Friday, already has earned the title of fastest movie to cross the $200 million mark. On Wednesday, eight days after it opened, the film beat its predecessor’s record of $200 million in nine days. The real race this weekend will be for the No. 2 spot as rising stars Will Ferrell and Keira Knightley face off in a battle of period pieces.
Fresh off two of last year’s biggest films, Ferrell and Knightley will offer audiences very different fare with the former “Saturday Night Live” star playing a womanizing, hard-drinking ’70s anchorman in DreamWorks’ comedy “Anchorman: The Legend of Ron Burgundy” and the British-born actress inhabiting the role of Guinevere in Disney’s “King Arthur.”
Both stars scored surprise hits last year: Ferrell’s “Elf” earned $173 million off a $31.1 million opening weekend, and Knightley’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: The Curse of the Black Pearl” grossed $305 million after a $46.6 million opening.
The likely winner of this race is “Anchorman,” which is tracking very well among both young men and women. Ferrell’s other 2003 film, “Old School,” also from DreamWorks, earned $75 million, and the southern California-born actor has a slew of films in the works, positioning him to become one of Hollywood’s top box office stars. “Anchorman,” co-starring Christina Applegate, from a script co-written by Ferrell and first-time director Adam McKay, could reap opening grosses equal to that of “Elf,” with most insiders positioning it in the $30 million range. Rated PG-13, “Anchorman” will bow in 3,091 theaters Friday.
In contrast, “King Arthur” the medieval period piece from director Antoine Fuqua (“Training Day”) and producer Jerry Bruckheimer, opened Wednesday to $4.8 million on 3,003 screens, expanding to 3,086 Friday. With that opening-day gross, the film is on track to earn $30 million for the five-day period, with three-day grosses estimated in the low-$20 million range. The PG-13 film lacks the tremendous star power usually typical of summer fare. Knightley’s co-stars are Clive Owen, Stellan Skarsgard and Ioan Gruffudd. Also potentially hampering “Arthur’s” success is a number of lackluster reviews. But the familiar story of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table might lure in enough fans to keep the production, rumored to cost more than $100 million, in the black. International business is expected to be very strong.
The third wide release of the frame is MGM’s PG-rated tween comedy “Sleepover.” Starring Alexa Vega of “Spy Kids” fame, “Sleepover” revolves around four girls trying to improve their popularity by entering into an all-night scavenger hunt against the cool girls at school. Hoping to generate some of the heat earned from recent tween comedy “Mean Girls,” which earned $24 million in its opening weekend, and the upcoming “A Cinderella Story” starring Hilary Duff, “Sleepover” is targeting the avid preteen moviegoer. But with a marketplace crowded with “Spider-Man 2” and Knightley’s appeal in “King Arthur,” “Sleepover” has had trouble generating much interest. Insiders put its three-day gross in the $6 million range.
The other box office star, “Fahrenheit 9/11,” which has grossed $60 million in its two weeks in release, will expand for a second time, opening in an additional 286 theaters, possibly bringing in an additional $9 million.
Two documentaries bow Friday in limited release: Sony Pictures Classics opens the PG-13 “Riding Giants,” a surfing film from “Dogtown and Z-Boys” filmmaker Stacy Peralta, and IFC will release “Metallica: Some Kind of Monster,” which centers on the trials and tribulations of heavy metal band Metallica as they cut “St. Anger,” their first album after a six-year hiatus.
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