Ocean's Twelve steals $40.9m
2004-12-13 07:58
Los Angeles - Movie audiences have gone from one robbery flick to another.
Ocean's Twelve, the star-driven sequel to the theft caper Ocean's Eleven, debuted with $40.9m, from the heist hit "National Treasure," which slipped to third place with $10m, studio estimates showed on Sunday.
National Treasure, which held the No 1 spot the three previous weekends, lifted its domestic total to $124.2m.
Blade: Trinity, the third in Wesley Snipes' vampire series, opened at No 2 with $16.1m. The franchise had lost much of its bite since Blade II, which debuted with more than twice the revenue, $32.5m, and opened as the No 1 movie in March 2002.
Playing in 3 290 theatres, Ocean's Twelve averaged a robust $12 426 per cinema, compared with $5,537 in 2 912 movie houses for Blade: Trinity.
In limited release, Bill Murray's quirky oceanography tale The Life Aquatic With Steve Zissou opened strongly, taking in $114 000 at just two theatres in New York City and Los Angeles. The film expands on Christmas Day.
Hollywood revenues rose solidly, with the top 12 movies taking in $102.8m, up 28% from the same weekend in 2003, when Something's Gotta Give opened as the No 1 movie with $16.1m.
Ocean's Twelve reunites director Steven Soderbergh with a dream cast led by George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Julia Roberts and Andy Garcia. Joining them this time was Catherine Zeta-Jones, adding to the sequel's star power.
"Movie-goers like their movie stars all in one place," said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations. "It's like one-stop shopping for all the top stars in Hollywood."
The follow-up sends the gang to Europe, where they must pull off a virtually impossible heist to win a bet with a rival and pay off the Vegas casino owner they robbed in Ocean's Eleven.
Given the movie's marquee-name roster and the success of the first movie, which grossed $183.4m domestically, some industry analysts thought Ocean's Twelve might do even better than it did.
Still, its debut came in higher than the $38.1m opening weekend of Ocean's Eleven in December 2001. Factoring in today's higher admission prices, Ocean's Twelve sold slightly fewer tickets than the original.
- AP