Fox's X2: X-Men United opened the summer movie season with a bang, grabbing an estimated $85.85 million during its weekend debut, scoring a 57.6% increase over its predecessor (X-Men $54.5) and setting a record for percentage growth for a sequel to a film that opened with over $40 million at the box office.  X2's opening was the fourth highest in box office history and came from a record 3,741 theaters, a 'record' that is somewhat misleading since X2's actual number of screens (7,200) was fewer than Harry Potter & The Chamber of Secrets' (8,515) and Spider-Man's (7,500).  Fox has been burned in the past by overestimating the box office openings of Attack of the Clones and the first X-Men film, so the studio was very conservative in assessing the opening of X2.  Don't be surprised if the total actually jumps when the final accounting for the weekend becomes available on Monday.

The strong release in the U.S. and Canada was only part of the picture--the film also grossed $69 million in 93 other countries (the largest global opening ever, see 'X2 Goes Global'), bringing its first weekend total to $155 million.  This is more than half what the original X-Men film earned in its entire run. 

Demographically there is plenty of good news for pop culture retailers looking to broaden their customer base.  Forty-four percent of the X2 audience was female and fifty-two percent was over 25, an excellent split of ages and genders that indicates the widespread popularity of the X-Men franchise, and which should give X2 the potential to soar well above the $200 million mark before its domestic run is done.  It certainly makes sense to make use of the X-Men's popularity in outreach efforts, since after all this franchise is not only widely popular, it is not going away anytime soon.  Although no deal for a third X-Men film has been announced, Fox distribution chief Bruce Snyder indicated that the studio would like to open X3 on this same weekend in 2006.

Finishing in second place this week was another property that has relevance to at least some pop culture retailers.  The Lizzie McGuire Movie, made for a modest $15 million, pulled some $17 million, a very strong performance in light of the competition.  Tokyopop has a line of licensed comic tpbs based on the Lizzie McGuire property (see 'Tokyopop Announces Two More Cine-Manga') -- a property that quite obviously has an enormous appeal to 'tween' girls (10-13).  Any retailer interested in appealing to that demographic should consider trying the Tokyopop Lizzie McGuire books.