Taken from CNN.com:
‘Kingdom of Heaven’ limps into top spot
Sunday, May 8, 2005 Posted: 4:32 PM EDT (2032 GMT)
LOS ANGELES, California (Reuters) — The lucrative summer moviegoing season suffered its worst start in years Sunday, as the costly Crusades epic “Kingdom of Heaven” crawled into the No. 1 slot at the North American weekend box office with meager ticket sales of just $20 million.
The film, which cost nearly $150 million to produce, stars Orlando Bloom — “Hollywood’s No. 1 pretty boy,” according to Rolling Stone magazine — as a humble French blacksmith who takes on the Arabs during the 12th century.
It was directed by British filmmaker Sir Ridley Scott, who had better luck with such films as “Gladiator” and “Hannibal,” and released by 20th Century Fox, a unit of News Corp.
Industry hopes that “Kingdom” would pull the business out a of a lengthy slump were dashed: the box office has now endured 11 “down” weekends when compared with the year-ago periods. According to tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, this ties the longest losing streak, which ran from July to October in 2000.
“Kingdom” also marks the weakest movie to kick off summer in the eight years since Hollywood decided to move the busy season two weeks earlier to the start of May from the Memorial Day holiday weekend.
Opening at No. 2 this weekend was the horror remake “House of Wax,” starring ubiquitous hotels heiress Paris Hilton, which earned a modest $12.2 million. The Warner Bros. release cost about $30 million to produce.
Last weekend’s champion, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” slipped to No. 3 with $9.1 million. The Walt Disney Co. release cost about $50 million to produce.
Hopefully Revenge of the Sith helps and brings this downward spiral to a stop.
Here is the breakdown of the weekend:
BOX OFFICE TOP 10
Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for May 6-May 8, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be issued Monday.
1. “Kingdom of Heaven,” $21.7 million
2. “House of Wax,” $14.2 million
3. “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy,” $9.1 million
4. “Crash,” $9.1 million
5. “The Interpreter,” $7.5 million
6. “XXX: State of the Union,” $5.4 million
7. “The Amityville Horror,” $3.2 million
8. “Sahara,” $3.1 million
9. “A Lot Like Love,” $3 million
10. “Fever Pitch,” $2 million
I’m off to finish work.
Good luck baby!
–Socram