Summer Summation 2004

Shrek 2 became the biggest hit of the summer.

It’s no secret that for a movie to be deemed a success these days, it has to open big. That coveted number one spot at the box office is the Holy Grail in Hollywood. This is particularly true during the summer months when so many big budget spectacles are released. The summer of 2004 saw 14 number one movies.

The season began this year with two big budget spectacles that would ultimately become two of the least successful to open in the top spot. On May 7th, Van Helsing, from director Stephen Sommers and starring Hugh Jackman, premiered. With strong advance marketing, it debuted with $51 million, but bad reviews and poor word of mouth left it with a total box office take of just $120 million, $40 million short of its $160 million budget. The following week it was Troy’s turn to make a splash. The $185 million budgeted sword and sandal epic made a good first impression, opening with $47 million, but faded fast in the next couple of weeks, ending its run with $133 million.

For stars Hugh Jackman and Brad Pitt, the news wasn’t completely bad. While they might not be appearing in sequels to either of those films, they both proved that they could open a movie with a big weekend. The subsequent decline in box office would be attributed to the fault of the material, not the actors.

Just as the summer was getting off to a weak start, DreamWorks released Shrek 2 on May 21st. The animated sequel took in $129 million during its first five days, the third highest five-day opening ever, and the largest for an animated film. Its three day weekend take of $108 million was second in size only to the original Spider-man’s $114.8 million. And on its opening Saturday, it took in $44.8 million, the largest one day earnings for any film in history. Its strong opening carried Shrek 2 to the top spot for the next weekend as well. With final box office earnings of a whopping $436 million, Shrek 2 would become the third highest grossing film of all time, behind only Titanic and the original Star Wars.

It took some magic to dislodge the green ogre from the top spot, which is exactly what Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban provided on June 4th. Its $96 million opening, while not as large as the two earlier Potter films, was impressive nevertheless. Critically praised, its eventual take of $247 million would also fall short of its predecessor’s earnings, but would carry it through as the number one movie for a second weekend.

The next two weekends saw the release of the two underdog number ones of the summer. The aptly named, Dodgeball: A True Underdog Story, budgeted at a mere $20 million, opened with an already profitable $30 million and would go on to earn a total of $113 million. For sheer profitably however, it would be hard to beat Fahrenheit 9/11’s earnings. Costing just $6 million to make, Michael Moore’s controversial ‘documentary’ took in more during its opening weekend ($24 million) than any other documentary had ever earned in total. Its final take of $117 million gives it the honor of the largest return on investment of any movie released this summer.

July 2nd saw the release of the second-highest grossing film of the summer, Spider-man 2. It set a record for the highest grossing opening day ever with $40.4 million. It earned $180 million during its first six days in release, the fastest a movie had ever reached that amount. With a final box office take of $368 million, it would become the ninth highest grossing movie of all time. It would also be the last uber-opening of the summer, and the last film to hold the number one spot two weekends in a row.

The following three weekends saw solid, if not spectacular openings of three different films, all of which would end up at the top spot with around $51 million. First up was I, Robot on July 16th, followed by The Bourne Supremacy a week later, and then The Village the weekend after that. Although none of them could hold on to the number one position for more than their opening weekend, all three movies would go on to earn a profit.

Another sequel, Spider-man 2, became the second biggest hit of the summer.

August failed to produce a single breakaway hit. The Tom Cruise as a hitman, Collateral, failed to generate anything other than good reviews, taking in just $25 million during a slow weekend at the box office. Alien vs. Predator turned out to be the biggest hit of the month, opening with $38 million. However, the final two weekends of the month gave us first Exorcist: The Beginning, and then Hero, both of which opened with just $18 million, ending the summer, not with a bang, but a whimper. With such a finale, it was clear that despite the official end not coming until Labor Day, for Hollywood the summer was gone.

In retrospect, the summer of 2004 was not a particularly good one at the movie theater. Despite setting a new record of $4 billion in ticket sales, the number of moviegoers decreased from 2003. If ever there was a case of a few tent pole pictures holding up a bunch of weak ones, this summer was it. Rarely has autumn come without any early Oscar contenders appearing.

And yet, hope does spring eternal. Already I am looking forward to next summer’s offerings, which include Star Wars Episode III: Revenge of the Sith, The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy, Batman Begins, The Fantastic Four, Bewitched, and many others. They might not all be classics, but at the very least, they should be an improvement over this year.