Lord of Wednesday

December 18, 2003

Anther day and another record for Lord of the Ring: Return of the King. It is now the largest Wednesday opening of any film, surpassing Star Wars: The Phantom Menace by more than $5 million. It also topped last year's opening of The Two Towers by nearly $8 million. Any fears that the long running time would hurt the box office too much are now alleviated.

As for the film's long term success, lets look at it like an SAT question. If Return of the King's box office run is to The Two Towers as the Two Towers is to Fellowship of the Ring, then the final box office will be over $350 million. In other words, the films are getting progressively more frontloaded so the huge jump in opening day box office will translate into a smaller increase overall. Whether that keeps up depends on Thursday's box office and how it compares to the expected drop-off of 47%.


Submitted by:

Filed under: The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers