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Families came out in droves to catch “Indiana Jones and the Kingdom of the Crystal Skull,” the PG-13 adventure starring Harrison Ford as the whip-cracking archaeologist who took 19 years to return to the big screen.
In a summer that has already seen “Iron Man” earn record numbers, “Indiana Jones” ran through the competition, scoring $126.1 million on its opening weekend. The haul was the second-biggest Memorial Day weekend opening on record, behind only last year’s “Pirates of the Caribbean: At World’s End”, which earned $139.8 million.
The film raked in an additional $25 million on Thursday, bringing the fourth episode of the Harrison Ford franchise a stunning $151.1 million. Analysts had considered “Crystal Skull” a threat to the record holder, “Star Wars, Episode III: Revenge of the Sith,” which took in $172.8 million in 2005. But Crystal Skull ended up No. 5 among biggest five-day debuts, according to USA Today.
More than two-thirds of the audience was 25 or older — nearly a third of them parents, according to USA Today’s Scott Bowles. Though teenage boys create bigger debuts, family movies tend to stay in theaters longer.
In second place over the holiday weekend was “The Chronicles of Narnia: Prince Caspian” with $28.6 million, and “Iron Man” came in a strong third with $26.7 million, making its total gross to date $258 million.

ticketnews.com

It’s been a disappointing weekend for Hollywood as holdover 21 (Sony) has trumped 3 new wide studio releases. Based on Ben Mezrich’s Bringing Down the House, 21 grabbed another $6.35M on Saturday, and the Kevin Spacey-produced card-counting thriller will wrap up its second weekend with a solid $15.5M.
Fox’s Nim’s Island, from Walden Media, received a nice 49% Friday-to-Saturday increase for $5.73M, but the Jodie Foster/Abigail Breslin vehicle will limp to an underwhelming $13.48M 3-day. That should ne just enough to nose out George Clooney’s Leatherheads (Universal), which could only muster $5.44M on Saturday. The world’s greatest modern day movie star will likely manage only $13.42M and a 3rd place finish.
Meanwhile, Horton Hears a Who (Fox) continues to excel with another $4M Saturday and a probable $9.29M 3-day. The Ruins (Dreamworks/Paramount), produced by Ben Stiller, is a full-on disaster. The grisly R-rated flick will only bank $7.85M this weekend.
Martin Scorsese’s Shine a Light (Paramount Vantage) is only a minor success. Despite Oscar winning director, legendary rock band the Rolling Stones and the lure of IMAX, the rock doc only sold $910,000 in tickets on Saturday, and it will settle for an underwhelming $2.15M opening 3-day.
The best 3-day Per Theatre Average for the weekend belongs to IFC’s Flight of the Red Balloon with $18,500 per. Wong Kar-Wai’s My Blueberry Nights (Weinstein) will likely be #2 in the PTA race with an estimated $10,600, followed by the Jewish-themed Jellyfish (Zeitgeist), Shine a Light and Ebrem Entertainment’s gay film A Four Letter Word.
EXCLUSIVE FANTASY MOGULS EARLY 3-DAY PTA ESTIMATES
1. NEW – Flight of the Red Balloon (IFC Films) – 2 locations - $18,500 PTA
2. NEW – My Blueberry Nights (Weinstein) – 5 locations - $10,600 PTA
3. NEW – Jellyfish (Zeitgeist) – 4 locations - $9,250 PTA
4. NEW – Shine a Light (Paramount Vantage) – 276 locations - $7,815 PTA

slashfilm.com

By Steve Gorman
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - “Iron Man,” the latest Marvel comics title brought to the big screen, grossed an estimated $32.5 million from its first full day in North American theaters, independent box office analysts reported on Saturday.
That tally, generated from Friday showings in some 4,100 U.S. and Canadian cinemas, put “Iron Man” on track to meet or exceed the $85 million-plus opening weekends posted by sequels to two other Marvel franchises — “Spider-Man” and “X-Men.”
“Iron Man” stars Robert Downey Jr. as a billionaire industrialist and playboy named Tony Stark who wrestles with a midlife crisis as he invents a high-tech suit of armor that transforms him into a superhero.
The movie, which cost about $150 million to make and another $75 million to market, co-stars Oscar winner Gwyneth Paltrow and has drawn mostly favorable reviews.
Distributed through Viacom Inc’s Paramount Pictures, the film is the first self-financed production from Marvel Studios and is being closely watched as the first major release of the summer movie season.
The 18-weekend stretch from May through August can account for as much as 40 percent of Hollywood’s total domestic box office receipts for a year.
Neither Paramount nor Marvel issued first-day figures for “Iron Man.”
But two box office tracking services, Media By Numbers and Box Office Mojo, both reported the film’s estimated Friday take at $32.5 million, not including receipts from Thursday night “preview” screenings in more than 2,000 theaters. Continued…

reuters.com