Star Wars Midnight Screenings Reap $17M
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
May 19, 2005
20th Century Fox's Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith shattered records out of the gate with an estimated $16.5 million-to-$17 million in receipts from the midnight shows alone, according to The Hollywood Reporter.
"We'll be counting the grosses for a while. It's an absolutely remarkable number. It seems like the industry got kickstarted last night at midnight," said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution for Fox.
Snyder noted that final numbers will not be available for some time because midnight shows are not usually broken out of a single day's gross at the boxoffice.
guys that 17 million number is in box office world: Record shattering. Beat the old record by double. It will get the opening day and single day record which is held by spiderman 1 for a 39 million opening day and 44.5 million by shrek 2 for biggest single day.
__________________ Drown your face in a bowl of water!!!
Last edited by manny321 on May 19th, 2005 at 08:55 PM
Here's an article with a little more info and comparison to LOTR:
LOS ANGELES - Moviegoers flocked to the dark side in droves, giving the final installment of George Lucas' "Star Wars" tale a record-breaking midnight run.
"Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith" raked in an estimated $16.5 million from 2,900 midnight screenings Thursday, according to box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
That's double what the Oscar-winning film "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took in during its midnight showings in 2003. The third film from director Peter Jackson's trilogy rang up about $8 million domestically from 2,100 midnight shows.
"This is extremely impressive," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations. "It just says so much about how excited people are to see this film that they lined up at midnight and just got on board and went along for the ride."
After the midnight debut, "Revenge of the Sith" widened to 3,661 theaters for daytime and evening screenings. The studio, 20th Century Fox, said box-office results for the first full day would be available Friday.
Tickets for the film went on sale last month. Soon after, legions of fans began lining up at theaters across the country, many dressed in full "Star Wars" regalia and sporting Jedi light sabers.
The final chapter in Lucas' six-film saga chronicles Anakin Skywalker's transformation from hero to villain Darth Vader. The film may be the darkest chapter in the "Star Wars" story, featuring more violence and a story line showing how a democratic government turns into a despotic regime.
"Revenge of the Sith" is the first "Star Wars" film to earn a PG-13 rating. The first five films were rated PG.
This movie will hold the record for Openning Day AND Opening Weekend for quite a long time.
I don't think anything will knock it off number one at the box office for quite a while....Batman won't...War of the Worlds probably will.
As far as record...It depends how soon it drops off. The Midnight record, I think...will NEVER be broken. The busiest 24 plex out here in Phoenix sold out 20 screen and went to 330am showings. Wow.
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May 19th, 2005 08:38 PM
