The Wayans brothers’ horror spoof's estimated gross was a humongous $42.5 million.
Saved by its controversial R rating the sex and slasher comedy was able to reach its targeted youth audience, according to ABCNEWS online.
Keenen, Shawn and Marlon’s scary joker was the second biggest opener of the year, behind the much more expensive Mission Impossible 2, which debuted around Memorial Day and earned $57.9 million in its first three days. The new number one movie reportedly only cost $19 million to produce, which is also way less than the reportedly $140 million spent on each of last week’s headliners The Perfect Storm and The Patriot.
‘Scary Movie’ scared away The Perfect Storm down to second, made The Patriot flee down to third and allowed Bruce Willis’ family film Disney’s The Kid to open in fourth.
According to ABCNEWS online, Willis' sentimental story about a cold-hearted executive able to look back on himself as a cute tike only managed to average a total of $12.5 million.
The adult dramas starring George Clooney and Mel Gibson both dropped over 30 percent from their opening week. The Perfect Storm took in another $27 million this week, which swept it past the $100 million mark. The Patriot earned only $15.5 million for a two week total of $65.5 million. The movie has been put down by many critics, who called in imprecise. The worst reaction came for Actor-Director Spike Lee, who in an open letter to Entertainment Weekly magazine, charged the director of The Patriot with ignoring the racial problem at the time the movie was set.
Following Willis’ The Kid, is Chicken Run, which netted $9.5 million this week. Me, Myself & Irene is still hanging on at number 6 with $8 million, Shaft, at number 7 took in $4.125 million this week, Big Momma’s House is at number 8 with a $4.1 million. The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle debuted at number 9 pushing Mission: Impossible out of the Box Office top ten, with $4 million. Finally, still hanging on to its last breath is Nicholas Cage’s Gone In 60 Seconds, which grossed $3.8 million this week—albawaba.com (various sources)
© 2000 Al Bawaba (www.albawaba.com)
