Matt Damon ‘Bourne’ Again Atop Box Office
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – “The Bourne Supremacy,” a spy thriller starring Matt Damon as an amnesiac killer, was the No. 1 choice of moviegoers across North America over the weekend, selling about $53.5 million worth of tickets in its first three days, outpacing the launch of its 2002 predecessor, according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
Last weekend’s champion, the Will Smith sci-fi thriller “I, Robot,” slipped to No. 2 with $22.1 million, taking its 10-day total to $95.5 million.
The other new wide entry in the top 10, “Catwoman,” a poorly reviewed movie starring Halle Berry as the feline superheroine, opened at No. 3 with a disappointing $17.2 million.
“The Bourne Supremacy,” budgeted at a relatively modest $75 million, was directed by British filmmaker Paul Greengrass (“Bloody Sunday”) for Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co. -controlled NBC Universal. Bourne plays an agent hunted both by his former CIA colleagues as well as by European thugs. Joan Allen co-stars.
Its predecessor, “The Bourne Identity,” also starring Damon, opened at No. 2 in June 2002 with $27 million and finished with more than $210 million worldwide. That film, directed by Doug Liman, went onto become a big hit on home video. Both films were based on books by Robert Ludlum.
“Catwoman,” budgeted in the high $80 million-range, has long suffered from bad buzz among comic-book purists, and critics’ reviews were pretty catastrophic too. Berry, who won an Academy Award in 2002 for “Monster’s Ball,” dons bondage gear to take on an evil cosmetics tycoon.
Directed by Frenchman Pitof, a visual effects maven, the film also stars Sharon Stone, who has not had a hit since 1992’s “Basic Instinct.”
“We’re a little disappointed,” said Dan Fellman, president of domestic theatrical distribution at Time Warner Inc.’s Warner Bros. Pictures, which released “Catwoman.” He said he had hoped the movie would open in the $20 million range.
“I, Robot” was released by Twentieth Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.’s Fox Entertainment Group Inc.
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