Night's fright ignites

'The Village' is the victor with $51 mil

By GABRIEL SNYDER

Shyamalan

This article was updated at 3:51 p.m.

M. Night Shyamalan gave Disney its first big opening of the year, as "The Village" bowed with a bang, grossing $50.8 million from 3,730 theaters.

Overall box office, however, expanded only slightly, and with four films opening wide over the weekend, several pics got pinched.

Paramount's "The Manchurian Candidate," which received wide coverage tied to the Democratic National Convention, grossed $20.2 million from 2,867 venues to become the weekend's No. 3 pic. Political thriller's bow is in the normal range for the opening of a Denzel Washington-toplined pic.

But the two other new pics disappointed their respective studios. No. 7 for the frame, New Line's stoner comedy "Harold and Kumar Go to White Castle" grossed $5.2 million from 2,135 locations. Universal's "Thunderbirds" opened to just $2.7 million from 2,057 engagements, ranking it No. 11 over the weekend.

Among limited bows, Fox Searchlight's "Garden State" led the pack with a scorching three-day total of $185,034 from nine screens, an average of $20,559. Since opening on Wednesday, pic has a cume of $266,988.

Leading the holdovers, U's "The Bourne Supremacy" was the second-biggest grossing film of the frame, but it dipped significantly in its second weekend, dropping 55% to $23.4 million. At No. 6 Warner Bros.' "Catwoman" sank more dramatically in its sophomore session, dropping 64% to $6.1 million.

"This is one of those mornings when I'm in a really good mood," said Disney distrib prexy Chuck Viane. "I guess it gets blase from where you're sitting, but this is the third week in a row to have a film open over $50 million. It's sure fun to be here."

Exit polls, he said, showed 52% of the audience was male. But surveys showed that "Village" was a big date pic.

Pic is the fourth in a row for helmer Shyamalan to open over $25 million, going back to his first major film, "The Sixth Sense." According to analysis by Nielsen EDI, Shyamalan is the only director to sport such a streak without a sequel, demonstrating what a loyal aud he's built.

Paramount's exit surveys for "Manchurian" showed an aud that skewed heavily to older adults, with 85% over age 25, and slightly more males showed up than females.

The older aud, the political subject matter and the normal play pattern for Denzel Washington films mean that the big challenge for "Manchurian" will be to show some legs.

For example, Washington's biggest opener was "Man on Fire" earlier this year. It bowed with $22.8 million and went on to do $77.7 million domestically.

"I think the word of mouth will be good," said Par distrib prexy Wayne Lewellen. "We're off to a good start."

New Line had high hopes for "Harold and Kumar," which has been reviewed as a smarter-than-your-average raunchy teen comedy.

"The people who have seen it like it," said New Line distrib chief David Tuckerman. "There's just not too many of them."

Exit polls found the aud was 60% male and a big majority were under 25.

U distrib topper Nikki Rocco said of the disappointing "Thunderbirds" bow, "Of course I hoped for higher grosses; we always do." She added, "We made a decision to release the film at this time because there was a void in the marketplace for family films."

While "Bourne" was considered a good candidate to buck the summer's trend of pics wilting in their second week, Rocco said the film saw a high 55% drop because "two new films opened directly competing for the same audience. We got killed on Friday because everyone wanted to see 'The Village.' " She added, however, that she still believes the Matt Damon thriller will play off well.

In its 11th weekend, DreamWorks' "Shrek 2" finally dropped out of the top 10, grossing $1.3 million over the weekend from 1,119 theaters. But with a cume of $432.4 million, it has now passed "Stars Wars: Episode I -- The Phantom Menace" as the fourth highest grossing film of all time.

Back to limiteds, Paramount Classics' "Intimate Strangers" also posted impressive numbers with $56,009 from five screens, an average of $11,202.

Spike Lee's latest, "She Hate Me," grossed $57,049 from 11 screens for the frame, an average of $5,186, according to distrib Sony Pictures Classics. Cume is $83,400 since its Wednesday bow.

Among holdovers, Fine Line and HBO Films drug mule drama "Maria Full of Grace" continues to play well. After expanding its run by 58 theaters for its third week to a total of 65, "Grace" grossed $535,000, an average of $8,230 per screen. Cume is $981,000.

Fox Searchlight's "Napoleon Dynamite," now in its eighth frame, grossed $1.3 million from 422 screens, an average of $3,081, bringing cume to a respectable $9.2 million.

MGM's similarly aggressively expanded "De-Lovely" grossed $1.15 million from 385 theaters, an average of $2,987 per screen, pushing cume through five weeks to $6.9 million.

Focus Features' "The Door in the Floor" grossed $358,160 from 128 screens in its third week, an average of $2,798. Cume is a sliver under $2 million.

Warner Independent Pictures' "Before Sunset" grossed $500,000 on 204 screens, averaging $2,450 per screen, pushing cume to $3.3 million through five weeks. "A Home at the End of the World" grossed $115,000 in its soph sesh on 26 screens, an average of $4,425.

Miramax's "Zatoichi" grossed $49,500 in its second week from eight screens, an average of $6,187. Thinkfilm's "Festival Express," another sophomore, picked up $97,650 from 17 screens, an average of $5,570. Cume is $112,960.

Nielsen EDI estimates the weekend's total box office at $157 million, which is a modest 3% improvement over last weekend's $153 million take and an 8% bump above the year-ago weekend's $145 million.

Summer B.O. this year is now $2.98 billion, up 8% from $2.77 billion from the comparable period in 2003. Year-to-date, total box office is $5.63 billion, up 6% from $5.33 billion at this point last year.