Pearl Harbor may have fallen well short of the record-setting $100 million opening that some insiders predicted (see 'Pearl Harbor May Overwhelm Holiday Box Office'), but the film did well enough to take the Memorial Day box office sweepstakes with an estimated $75.1 million, good enough for the second largest opening in Hollywood history.  The film averaged a solid $23, 358 per screen, which is excellent for such a long (183-minute) film.  In fact Pearl Harbor triumphed everywhere except with the critics, who in general despised the love story ('Snore-a, Snore-a, Snore-a'), while applauding the action sequences.

 

The real question now for Pearl Harbor is what kind of 'legs' is it going to have?  Jurassic Park: The Lost World did $90.2 million on its opening weekend, but that represented 40% of what the film took in during its entire run.  Titanic, however, opened with a much more modest $28 million, but that represented only 5% of what the all time box office champ eventually earned during its long run.  Many people who were planning to see Pearl Harbor may have heard all the megahype about box office records and decided to wait to see the film later in its run.  Only about 19% of the first weekend patrons were 18 or younger, so if the critically-panned love story does catch on and resonate with the young girls who made Titanic such a hit, Pearl Harbor could go on for a long time as it exploits the word-of-mouth driven Titanic audience.  The next few weeks should tell us a lot about how the film will be remembered.

 

Meanwhile Shrek performed amazingly well, matching its $42 million total from its opening weekend dollar for dollar during the first three days of the Memorial Day holiday and then adding an additional $12 on Monday for a weekend total of $54.2 million.  Good reviews and good word-of-mouth have made this film a monster hit with an 11-day total of $110.7 million.  These are Lion King numbers!  It should be interesting to see if Shrek can continue to keep pace with the Disney animated blockbuster.  ICv2 notes with some satisfaction that we have been touting the box office and merchandising potential of Shrek for some time (see 'Shrek Poised for Box Office Triumph?' and 'Shrek Wows Viewers at Showest').

 

And don't forget The Mummy Returns, which added almost $20 million over the weekend to bring its total to $176 million.   It's rare for a sequel to outperform the original, but The Mummy Returns looks like a sure bet to do just that.  Like Pearl Harbor, The Mummy Returns received generally poor critical notices, but the bad reviews have certainly not kept people away.  It is clear that in the case of an animated film, good reviews can really help if they suggest that parents and teenagers will enjoy the film along with their kids and younger siblings.  The Lion King received excellent reviews as did Shrek and the results speak for themselves.  But when it comes to a big action-packed blockbuster of a film that may well be more like an extended rollercoaster ride than a coherent narrative, reviews may actually have only a relatively minor effect.