'X-Men' Gets Off to a Great Start
Reuters
Monday, May 29, 2006; Page C10
LOS ANGELES, May 28 -- The new film in the "X-Men" superhero trilogy blew past last weekend's box office champ, "The Da Vinci Code," to post the fourth-highest all-time opening in North America, according to studio estimates issued Sunday.
"X-Men: The Last Stand" sold about $107 million worth of tickets for the three-day period of Friday through Sunday, dwarfing "Da Vinci's" $77 million opening a week ago, according to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co.
The Vatican conspiracy thriller slipped to No. 2, but complete sales data were not immediately available as most studios were planning to report sales estimates for the Memorial Day holiday weekend Monday.
The three-day record for a film opening on a Friday is held by 2002's "Spider-Man" ($115 million), followed by 2005's "Star Wars: Episode III -- Revenge of the Sith" ($108.4 million) and 2004's "Shrek 2" ($108 million).
"X-Men: The Last Stand," which reportedly cost at least $165 million to make, was released by News Corp.'s 20th Century Fox, which licensed the comic book franchise from Marvel Entertainment. The first film in the series, "X-Men," opened with $54 million in 2000. Three years later, "X2: X-Men United" launched with $86 million.
Fox executives were not available for comment.
In addition to taking over from "Da Vinci" as the highest opening so far this year, the new "X-Men" has already topped the nine-year-old Memorial Day weekend record held by "The Lost World: Jurassic Park," which opened to $72 million during its first three days. Steven Spielberg's dinosaur picture earned an additional $18 million on the Monday holiday.
