July
11
"Four": $56M
"Fantastic Four" had an unexpectedly strong showing at the domestic b.o. this weekend, pulling in $56 million and exceeding most expectations by a wide margin. That's the third biggest opening of the year behind "Star Wars" and "War of the Worlds," and — if the numbers hold up when final figures are announced today — will break the string of underperforming weekends for the film biz. That puts the pic, with its reported budget of just more than $100 million, on the profit track and talk has already turned to sequels. By comparison, the first "X-Men" movie grossed $54 million its first weekend nearly exactly five years ago. "FF" also is also ahead of the $45 million opening for "Daredevil" and not far behind the $62 million first frame for "Hulk."
Writer, editor and publisher Byron Preiss died July 9 in an automobile accident in Long Island, N.Y. He was 52. As prexy of Byron Preiss Visual Publications and Ibooks, Preiss was recognized as a pioneer in graphic novel and digital publishing. The New York Times obituary is here. Details on a memorial service set for tomorrow in New York can be found here.
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With Byron Peiss' untimely passing the graphic novel format lost one of its brightest and most visionary exponents. What a terrible shame.
As to the FF movie, the first week numbers were (perhaps somewhat unexpectedly) strong but it will more interesting to see if it has "legs" after word of mouth spreads (the verdict is decidedly mixed...though leaning towards the negative...in my personal circle of like-minded moviegoers.)
Posted by: Michael K. Willis | July 13, 2005 at 01:26 PM