ROTTEN TOMATOES: Box Office Guru Wrapup: Rush Hour 3 Speeds Into #1 Spot

Box Office Guru Wrapup: Rush Hour 3 Speeds Into #1 Spot

Chan and Tucker beat back Bourne.

by Gitesh Pandya | August 12, 2007

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After being off the case for six years, Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker raced back into theaters with their cross-cultural cop buddy action sequel Rush Hour 3 and captured the number one spot. The new fantasy film Stardust opened to disappointing results in fourth place while the weekend's other new titles Daddy Day Camp and Skinwalkers were virtually ignored by moviegoers. But overall, the North American box office remained robust posting a gain of more than 25% over last year for the third session in a row.

New Line hit the top spot for the first time in a year with its action-comedy franchise hit Rush Hour 3 which bowed to an estimated $50.2M. Playing ultrawide in 3,778 sites, the PG-13 film averaged a strong $13,298 per theater. It was the fourth biggest opening ever in the month of August trailing The Bourne Ultimatum ($69.3M last weekend), Rush Hour 2 ($67.4M in 2001), and Signs ($60.1M in 2002). While a powerful debut, Rush Hour 3 showed that the franchise has suffered some audience erosion. The opening weekend gross was 26% smaller than Rush Hour 2's and factoring in six years of ticket price increases, the bow would be about 35% weaker.

In the new saga, Chan and Tucker reteam to fight a Chinese organized crime syndicate in Paris. Critics were overwhelmingly negative on the film stating that the characters have overstayed their welcome and that Tucker, who has not done any films over the last nine years other than the Rush Hour pics, held up part three because of his salary demands. But audiences came out for the action and the comedy and should soon push the film over the $100M mark in the coming weeks.

After its record-breaking opening, The Bourne Ultimatum dropped a reasonable 51% to an estimated $33.7M and boosted its ten-day tally to $132.3M. The hold was a bit better than the 54% decline that The Bourne Supremacy experienced in its sophomore session three years ago when it faced The Village which bowed to the same numbers as Rush Hour 3. Ultimatum marks the 13th summer film to cross the $100M mark this year compared to ten at this same point last year. With few good action pictures left this summer, the latest Matt Damon assassin pic should cruise to $210-220M making it the top-grossing installment in the popular spy series.

The Simpsons Movie fell another 56% in its third outing to an estimated $11.1M. That put the 17-day total at $152.2M for Fox with a final tally of around $175M likely.

The $70M fantasy adventure Stardust found little magic at the box office in its opening weekend and collected just $9M in ticket sales, according to estimates. Averaging a mild $3,548 from 2,540 locations, the PG-13 fairy tale pic starring Michelle Pfeiffer, Robert De Niro, and Claire Danes found itself in fourth place. Reviews were mostly positive, but that did little to boost its performance at the cash registers.

In its second weekend, Buena Vista's Underdog fell 44% to an estimated $6.5M to push its ten-day tally to $24.7M. A $40M final gross seems likely. The musical Hairspray once again enjoyed the best hold in the top ten dipping only 31% to an estimated $6.4M in its fourth frame. With a robust $92.1M in the bank, the New Line hit looks to reach the neighborhood of $110M.

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(1-20 of 29 posts) | Reply

lamer writes:
on Aug 12 2007 07:09 PM

Oh god, why?

(Reply to this)

SpikesInMySkull writes:
on Aug 12 2007 07:15 PM

Well I'm hope the movie going public gets to enjoy Rush Hour 4 before society completely collapses are we're all forced into cannibalism.

(Reply to this)

lockdicer writes:
on Aug 12 2007 07:17 PM

wow i think skinwalkers had the lowest per theatre average debut i ever heard of for that amount of theatres

(Reply to this)

Rash Hunt writes:
on Aug 12 2007 08:22 PM

Poor Stardust - better see it quick before they pull it.

(Reply to this)

Mr. Kong writes:
on Aug 12 2007 08:46 PM

Didn't Signs come out in July?

(Reply to this)

loudharley writes:
on Aug 12 2007 09:15 PM

In reply to this comment (#1033351)
I thought signs was a july release to.

(Reply to this)

aknddon3 writes:
on Aug 12 2007 10:34 PM

i understand that not everyone likes every movie but when a movie that you do not like makes money does not mean the world is ending. Hell look at Superman Returns, the second worst comic book movie ever yet it made money and i did not think the world was ending. Get over it internet nerd

(Reply to this)

Product_of_You writes:
on Aug 12 2007 10:57 PM

dude, you're such a loser, you can go three seconds without talking about Superman Returns

(Reply to this)

jacketman writes:
on Aug 12 2007 11:16 PM

Yep. I loved Superman Returns. I don't quite understand the hate for it. To each their own.

(Reply to this)

Travis27 writes:
on Aug 13 2007 12:10 AM

Why do people fall for this crap? I guess no one really listens to the movie critics.

(Reply to this)

tick0 writes:
on Aug 13 2007 01:12 AM

Im not surprised that Stardust did poorly. However, in the long run of things it's going to be that movie that everyone has seen on tnt or other cable stations in 3 years. The movie has that "princess bride" spell that people will see it and wonder, "Why did this do so poorly at the movies?" The answer. Rush Hour 3 came out the same day and it was buried by a crap movie. Stardust is by far the best diamond in the ruff movie of the summer.

Just remember A Christmas Story did crap for tickets sales and is now the biggest movie at christmas time.

(Reply to this)

CoUcH ToMaToE DoUgIe writes:
on Aug 13 2007 01:21 AM

In reply to this comment (#1033450)
oh, hey the loser is back! won't you ever go away adkkon 3 because we are all

sick of your annoying insults of a movie that was pretty damned good. and now acting

like a crazed junkie, you have to talk about every thread you go on? loser, you need

help and fast. oh, and some punishment, hmm ... lets see, ah! Here you go, i sentence

you to watch nonstop the real worst comic movies of all time and don't forget that

to watch howard the duck a couple extra times just in case you might realize what an

all time comic book movie adaptation looks like. Oh, and mr spacey, has something to say

"WWWWWRRRRRROOOONNNNNGGGGGG!" Man, even i am getting tired of it but hey spacey scares

me. so, adkkon, please find your brain and maybe then you'll be able to comprehend

why people like movies like superman returns and hate you!!!

(Reply to this)

Gimy writes:
on Aug 13 2007 05:09 AM

if you've seen rush hour 1 or 2...you've already seen the 3rd. i laughed maybe...3 or 4 times. there was nothing hilarious, nothing original...and i hope there's not a 4th. put it THAT way.

Superman..."second" worst comic book movie ever? you can say ONE of the worst, but with gems like Ghost Rider and Catwoman...you can't say SECOND. if you saying its worse than those two(amongst others) then we know you're just hatin' for the sake of hatin'. those two ESPECIALLY...are in a league of their own

(Reply to this)

TheDon1010 writes:
on Aug 13 2007 05:17 AM

Saw Rush Hour 3 yesterday

It was just like the other 2, but I liked the other 2. You shouldn't see a movie like Rush Hour 3 for oscar winning material. It felt contrived on several scenes, but it had a familiar and comforting 80's buddy action movie style about it. It was a fun movie.

It deserved a little better than 19%

(Reply to this)

nalindra writes:
on Aug 13 2007 05:40 AM

I don't know about others but I enjoyed rush hour 3,mainly becoz after watching so many special effects movies it was g8t to watch a movie mixed with comedy and action.Chris tucker is amazing as in the previous installments and chan and tucker mix still got hte magic and thee humour.

Being one of the most odd team ups ever rush hour 3 is definetley a movie goer must watch becoz its movie that uu can have a nice laugh and come out of the theater smiling and satisfied.

(Reply to this)

Mr. Kong writes:
on Aug 13 2007 06:25 AM

In reply to this comment (#1033511)
Of course, aknddon doesn't undesrstand this. It's either you agree with him or he calls you a stupid loser virgin nerd.

(Reply to this)

HeisLegend1231 writes:
on Aug 13 2007 06:27 AM

I watched both Stardust and Rush Hour 3 this weekend, and I enjoyed Stardust ten times more. I actually think I laughed just about as much in Stardust as I did in Rush Hour 3. Not to take anything away from Rush Hour 3, I did enjoy it just not as much as Stardust. I thought it was better than the second one, but not as good as the first. I was just very disappointed to see that Stardust did so poorly at the box office, it was definitely one of the better movies this summer.

(Reply to this)

synergyred writes:
on Aug 13 2007 07:50 AM

In reply to this comment (#1033899)
You really hit the nail on the head tick0. In a few years, Rush Hour 3 will fade away into obscurity, but Stardust (much like the Princess Bride, or, more recently, Serenity) is going to have staying power and die-hard fans.

(Reply to this)

SukmyPikachu writes:
on Aug 13 2007 11:17 AM

I heard Rush Hour 3 is utter nonesense?

In anycase this summer has largely been crap and nearly allt he movie will disappear in to obscurtity (esp Worlds end).

(Reply to this)