'Super Size,' 'Shrek 2' have super days at box office
L. Kent Wolgamott column
"Shrek 2" stayed at the top of the box office this week and is well on its way to becoming the highest grossing animated film ever.
"The Day After Tomorrow" was arguably the most popular movie of Memorial Day, averaging about $3,400 per screen more than "Shrek 2"on a record-setting weekend.
But the real holiday box office news was made by "Super Size Me," which hung in at No. 10 on the box office list and averaged $6,852 per screen, more than any other movie except "Shrek 2" and "The Day After Tomorrow."
The reason that's news is that "Super Size Me" is a documentary, and the $4.9 million it's taken in so far makes it a smash hit. Even more encouraging is the fact director Morgan Spurlock's film saw its box office increase by 39 percent over Memorial Day weekend.
That's a good indicator of the interest in Spurlock's cinematic adventure, during which he ate at McDonald's restaurants for 30 days, always taking the "supersize" option if asked. Closely monitoring the effects of his fast-food diet, Spurlock gained weight and his health declined - proving what always has been assumed about fast food.
Spurlock's crusading also has brought out the censors in an unlikely place. MTV, that bastion of taste and morality, has refused to run ads for "Super Size Me,"telling the picture's distributors that the ads are "disparaging to fast-food restaurants."Ya think?
According to the distributors, MTV's sister station VH1 also pulled clips of "Super Size Me" from "Best WeekEver," its week-in-review program.
That bit of spinelessness is hardly surprising given the amount of fast-food advertising on MTV, VH1 and the other Viacom networks.But it's always disappointing to see any media outlet cave to advertiser pressure.
"Super Size Me" is only playing on 197 screens compared to more than 4,000 for "Shrek 2." So, as is the case with most documentaries, it will take a little while for it to make its way around the country.
The good news is "Super Size Me" now has a Lincoln opening date. It will play the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center beginning July 9. The Ross usually runs its films for two weeks,but Ross director DannyLee Ladely said if "Super Size Me" draws good crowds here, the picture probably will play for a month.
Having now taken in $256.9 million at the box office in just two weeks, "Shrek 2"is taking dead aim at "Finding Nemo,"the all-time animation box office champ, which made $340 million last year.
It will probably take another month or so for the green ogre, talking donkey and hilarious cat to bypass the fish. "Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban," which opens today, can be counted on to dramatically slice the income for "Shrek 2." But even if the picture drops by 50 percent, it will still take in more than $40 million this week, virtually guaranteeing that it will make more than $340 million by the time its run ends later this summer.
"Shrek 2" was helped by an expanding movie audience. The Memorial Day weekend saw the top 12 movies take in more than $233 million, easily topping last year's record of $202 million. "Shrek 2" and "The Day After Tomorrow" which took in $86 million, accounted for 76 percent of the revenues among the top 12 films.
Elsewhere on the controversial documentary front, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who run Miramax Films, reached an agreement last week to buy back Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" from parent company Walt Disney Co. and release it themselves.
In another fit of corporate censorship, Disney pulled the plug on Moore's scathing documentary, which attacks President Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and connects the Bush family with Osama bin Laden's. That forced Moore to try to find a distributor for his film in order to get it into theaters this summer and out on DVD and video before the November election.
The Weinsteins have formed the Fellowship Adventure Group to acquire the rights to "Fahrenheit 9/11," which recently won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It is believed that the Weinsteins had to pay Disney $6 million for the cost of the film so far and will be responsible for the rest of the costs to finish and market the film.
Moore's last picture, "Bowling for Columbine," grossed $21.5 million, a record for documentaries. So it's likely the Weinsteins will make a tidy profit on "Fahrenheit 9/11."
There is no distribution schedule for the film at this point, but it will very likely play the Ross when it comes to Lincoln."Bowling for Columbine" remains the highest grossing picture to play there since Ross reopened last year.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@;journalstar.com.
"Shrek 2" stayed at the top of the box office this week and is well on its way to becoming the highest grossing animated film ever.
"The Day After Tomorrow" was arguably the most popular movie of Memorial Day, averaging about $3,400 per screen more than "Shrek 2"on a record-setting weekend.
But the real holiday box office news was made by "Super Size Me," which hung in at No. 10 on the box office list and averaged $6,852 per screen, more than any other movie except "Shrek 2" and "The Day After Tomorrow."
The reason that's news is that "Super Size Me" is a documentary, and the $4.9 million it's taken in so far makes it a smash hit. Even more encouraging is the fact director Morgan Spurlock's film saw its box office increase by 39 percent over Memorial Day weekend.
That's a good indicator of the interest in Spurlock's cinematic adventure, during which he ate at McDonald's restaurants for 30 days, always taking the "supersize" option if asked. Closely monitoring the effects of his fast-food diet, Spurlock gained weight and his health declined - proving what always has been assumed about fast food.
Spurlock's crusading also has brought out the censors in an unlikely place. MTV, that bastion of taste and morality, has refused to run ads for "Super Size Me,"telling the picture's distributors that the ads are "disparaging to fast-food restaurants."Ya think?
According to the distributors, MTV's sister station VH1 also pulled clips of "Super Size Me" from "Best WeekEver," its week-in-review program.
That bit of spinelessness is hardly surprising given the amount of fast-food advertising on MTV, VH1 and the other Viacom networks.But it's always disappointing to see any media outlet cave to advertiser pressure.
"Super Size Me" is only playing on 197 screens compared to more than 4,000 for "Shrek 2." So, as is the case with most documentaries, it will take a little while for it to make its way around the country.
The good news is "Super Size Me" now has a Lincoln opening date. It will play the Mary Riepma Ross Media Arts Center beginning July 9. The Ross usually runs its films for two weeks,but Ross director DannyLee Ladely said if "Super Size Me" draws good crowds here, the picture probably will play for a month.
Having now taken in $256.9 million at the box office in just two weeks, "Shrek 2"is taking dead aim at "Finding Nemo,"the all-time animation box office champ, which made $340 million last year.
It will probably take another month or so for the green ogre, talking donkey and hilarious cat to bypass the fish. "Harry Potter and the Prison of Azkaban," which opens today, can be counted on to dramatically slice the income for "Shrek 2." But even if the picture drops by 50 percent, it will still take in more than $40 million this week, virtually guaranteeing that it will make more than $340 million by the time its run ends later this summer.
"Shrek 2" was helped by an expanding movie audience. The Memorial Day weekend saw the top 12 movies take in more than $233 million, easily topping last year's record of $202 million. "Shrek 2" and "The Day After Tomorrow" which took in $86 million, accounted for 76 percent of the revenues among the top 12 films.
Elsewhere on the controversial documentary front, Bob and Harvey Weinstein, who run Miramax Films, reached an agreement last week to buy back Michael Moore's "Fahrenheit 9/11" from parent company Walt Disney Co. and release it themselves.
In another fit of corporate censorship, Disney pulled the plug on Moore's scathing documentary, which attacks President Bush's handling of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks and connects the Bush family with Osama bin Laden's. That forced Moore to try to find a distributor for his film in order to get it into theaters this summer and out on DVD and video before the November election.
The Weinsteins have formed the Fellowship Adventure Group to acquire the rights to "Fahrenheit 9/11," which recently won the top prize at the Cannes Film Festival. It is believed that the Weinsteins had to pay Disney $6 million for the cost of the film so far and will be responsible for the rest of the costs to finish and market the film.
Moore's last picture, "Bowling for Columbine," grossed $21.5 million, a record for documentaries. So it's likely the Weinsteins will make a tidy profit on "Fahrenheit 9/11."
There is no distribution schedule for the film at this point, but it will very likely play the Ross when it comes to Lincoln."Bowling for Columbine" remains the highest grossing picture to play there since Ross reopened last year.
Reach L. Kent Wolgamott at 473-7244 or kwolgamott@;journalstar.com.
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