"Fahrenheit" Burns Up Box Office
by Bridget Byrne
Jun 28, 2004, 1:10 PM PT
Fahrenheit 9/11 torched all comers this weekend.
Michael Moore's assault on President Bush was even hotter than anticipated, earning a searing $23.9 million to become the first documentary in Hollywood history to top the box-office charts, according to studio tallies released Monday.
In just three days, from Friday to Sunday, Fahrenheit 9/11 also eclipsed Moore's Bowling for Columbine as the highest grossing documentary of all time. Since opening in limited release Wednesday, Fahrenheit 9/11 has grossed $24.1 million.
By now the film's backstory is legend. Fahrenheit 9/11 was dumped by Disney for political reasons. The right-wing Website MoveAmericaForward.org launched a letter-writing campaign trying to keep the film out of theaters. Another conservative group, Citizens United, filed a complaint with the Federal Elections Commission, asking it to investigate whether the movie's TV ads featuring a bumbling Bush violate federal laws. Then the MPAA refused to lower the film's rating from an R, effectively limiting the number of people who could see it.
But Moore and producers Harvey and Bob Weinstein weren't deterred. After the film won the Palm d'Or at Cannes, the Weinsteins bought the rights from Disney and collaborated with Lions Gate Films and IFC Entertainment to bring the film to what turns out to be the eager masses.
Although the distributors failed to reach the 1,000-theater mark they were aiming for, Fahrenheit 9/11 played to sold-out houses at just 868 sites, earning a blockbuster $27,558 per-screen average.
Costing only $6 million to produce and less than $10 million to market, the pay-off is obvious for this provocative documentary critically praised for its wit, heart and chutzpah.
If estimates hold, Fahrenheit 9/11 has already beaten Moore's anti-gun screed Bowling for Columbine, which has taken in $21.5 million since opening in October 2002. That movie only debuted at eight sites and, despite winning an Oscar, never played at more than 248 locations. Tupac: Resurrection had the previous best opening for a documentary, with $4.6 million in 801 theaters last November.
"Hearing this news this morning--these are mind-blowing numbers," Moore said during a Sunday morning teleconference. "And the fact that all the predictions that the movie would only speak to the choir, that it would only be those who don't like Bush coming to the movie, I don't think have turned out to be true. This movie has played in the Red [Republican-leaning] States as strongly as it's played in the Blue [Democratic] States."
"This is maybe the sleeper hit of all time," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Lions Gate President Tom Ortenberg said he'd never witnessed such a positive response before on exit surveys. In the 15 cities surveyed, the results were, he said, "91 percent 'excellent' and 93 percent 'definite recommend.'"
The audience was almost 50-50 male-female and the highest demographic was 25-34 year olds. Anticipating that excellent word of mouth will carry over, the distributors plan to add hundreds more screens next week, although they will be going up against the anticipated summer blockbuster Spider-Man 2.
"I am happy to announce the efforts of a small-minded few to suppress and censor the film have failed miserably," said IFC Entertainment President Jonathan Sehring. But he said he would not include Michael Eisner, Disney's head honcho, in that group.
Why should he kick Mickey while he's down? While Fahrenheit 9/11 breaks box-office records, the Mouse House's latest offering, Around the World in Eighty Days, which only opened an abysmal ninth last week, dropped out of the top 10. Falling 44 percent to 13th place, the remake earned just $4.3 million from a $1,526 per-screen average to brings its current gross to a woeful $18.3 million. And it cost a reported $110 million to produce.
Left in Fahrenheit's shade in second place was the new Wayans brothers' comedy, White Chicks. At more than three times as many sites--2,726--the PG-13 Sony release, which finds the guys playing FBI agents who change color and gender to go undercover, averaged $7,218 per for $19.7 million.
Likewise, the other new releases also failed to drum up much interest. The Notebook, a romantic drama starring Rachel McAdams and Ryan Gosling as parted lovers and Gena Rowlands and James Garner as their older selves, opened in fourth place with $13.5 million. The PG-13 New Line release (s)wept into 2,303 sites, where it averaged $5,847.
Meanwhile, Universal's well reviewed tiger tale Two Brothers opened in ninth place with $6.1 million. The PG-rated release, starring magnificent beasts and Guy Pearce, averaged $2,825 at 2,175 sites.
Last week's number one, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, got bruised, but not totally beaned, dropping only 38 percent to earn $18.8 million in third place. That brings Ben Stiller's goofy comedy's two-week total to $67.5 million. Last week's number two, Tom Hanks' immigrant-in-limbo The Terminal, held on a bit better, dropping only 31 percent to fifth place with $13.1 million to bring its total to $41 million.
Overall, the top 12 movies grossed $138.5 million, up 6 percent from last weekend and a solid 230 percent above this time last year, when Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle flew in first with $37.6 million, but with a much lower per-screen average than Fahrenheit 9/11--just $10,880 at 3,459 sites.
Here are the top 10 films as tracked by Exhibitor Relations:
1. Fahrenheit 9/11, $23.9 million
2. White Chicks, $19.7 million
3. Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, $18.8 million
4. The Notebook, $13.5 million
5. The Terminal, $13.1 million
6. Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, $11.2 million
7. Shrek 2, $10.2 million
8. Garfield, $7.5 million
9. Two Brothers, $6.1 million
10. The Stepford Wives, $5.1 million
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