Shrek 2 Still On Top: Disaster Befalls ‘Day’ In Plunge To 2nd Place


DAY-AFTER-TOMORROW

The Day After Tomorrow ad satire

Perhaps satirical ads, such as the one to the right — not to mention, some pretty savage reviews — hurt the opening box office for this weekend’s summer blockbuster, The Day After Tomorrow, but as far as VanRamblings is concerned, Roland Emmerich’s film has proved to be the most entertaining of the summer blockbusters thus far in 2004, even if the story and dialogue are a tad clichéd.
Seems the movie-going public didn’t agree, though. Now, let’s get real for a moment: taking in a three-day box office total of $70, in its first weekend, can’t be considered small change, but with no spike in the Saturday box office over Friday, salutary box office in the days to come hardly holds out much hope of turning the disaster epic into a summer blockbuster smash. Oh well. Still, Monday is a holiday in the U.S., and final figures will probably spike some.
With The Day After Tomorrow in second, Shrek once again emerged as the box office winner, taking in a gross of $73.1 million, for a record-setting $238,800,000 12-day total. Troy ran a distant third at $11.5 million, while Touchstone’s Kate Hudson-starring domestic comedy, Raising Helen, took in a modest $11.2 million in its opening weekend. The only other newcomer this week, Snoop Dogg’s Soul Plane, crashed on take-off.
When Memorial Day figures are published on Monday — this is a long weekend in the U.S., after all — VanRamblings will update this story, with links to various sites which provide perspective on the weekend box office.