Basketball movie achieves box office ‘Glory’
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) – The college basketball saga “Glory Road” triumphed at the weekend box office in North America, narrowly beating fellow newcomers “Last Holiday” and “Hoodwinked,” according to studio estimates issued on Sunday.
“Glory Road” sold about $13.5 million worth of tickets in the Friday-to-Sunday period, followed by the Queen Latifah comedy remake “Last Holiday” with $13.0 million, and the animated tale “Hoodwinked” with $12.2 million.
“The Chronicles of Narnia: The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe” fell two places to No. 4 with $10.1 million. Last weekend’s champion, the torture thriller “Hostel,” tumbled to No. 5 with $9.6 million. Their respective totals rose to $261.4 million and $34.8 million.
With the Martin Luther King holiday falling on Monday, some studios were waiting until then to report four-day estimates. Final data will be issued on Tuesday.
“Glory Road,” released by Walt Disney Co., recounts the true story of a Texas university basketball team that broke the color barrier when it went to the NCAA championship with an all-black starting lineup.
Disney said the film made as much in three days as industry analysts had been expecting it to make in four days. That was also the case with Paramount Pictures’ “Last Holiday,” in which Queen Latifah plays a woman who takes the trip of a lifetime after learning she has a terminal disease. Paramount is a unit of Viacom Inc.
Still, the films will come nowhere near last year’s Martin Luther King weekend leader, “Coach Carter,” which opened with $29.2 million for the four days.
“Hoodwinked,” an animated update of the Little Red Riding Hood fable, was released by the Weinstein Co., the nascent banner formed by Miramax Films co-founders Bob and Harvey Weinstein.
Further down the charts, No. 7-ranked “King Kong” finally passed the double-century mark, reaching $202.8 million in its 33rd day of release after a $7.3 million weekend. “Narnia,” by contrast, took 22 days to reach that milestone.
And Steven Spielberg’s “Munich,” no longer in the top 10, rose to $32.8 million after a $4.9 million weekend. Short of a miraculous Oscar boost, the Munich Olympics revenge thriller will likely become one of those rare Spielberg efforts not to hit $100 million.
“Narnia” is also a Disney release, while “Hostel” was released by Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp. Universal Pictures, a unit of General Electric Co., released “King Kong” and “Munich.”
Categories