G UNIT - 9/11 FILM LANDS SAFELY

After weeks of industry debate over whether Universal's United 93 would have sufficient commercial appeal, moviegoers finally voted at the box office over the weekend. The film wound up with the highest per-theater average as it opened with $11.5 million in 1,795 theaters. The film had cost about $15 million to produce. The top money maker was Sony's RV, starring Robin Williams, which took in $16.4 million on 3,639 screens, about twice the number showing United 93. Disney's Stick It opened in third place with $10.8 million -- far better than analysts had expected, while Lionsgate's Akeelah and the Bee fell below expectations in its opening with just $6 million.

The top ten films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. RV, Sony, $16,414,767, (New); 2. United 93, Universal, $11,478,360, (New); 3. Stick It, Disney, $10,803,610, (New); 4. Silent Hill, Sony, $9,336,399, 2 Wks. ($34,267,462); 5. Scary Movie 4, Weinstein Co. $7,805,568, 3 Wks. ($78,168,719); 6. The Sentinel, 20th Century Fox, $7,787,208, 2 Wks. ($25,728,548); 7. Ice Age: The Meltdown, 20th Century Fox, $7,204,960, 5 Wks. ($177,863,073); 8. Akeelah and the Bee, Lions Gate, $6,011,585, (New); 9. The Wild, Disney, $4,799,676, 3 Wks. ($28,510,753); 10. The Benchwarmers, Sony, $4,385,855, 4 Wks. ($52,768,049).

02/05/2006