X2 and Matrix Make this Season 2nd
X2 played a big part in making this the second-biggest Spring in box office history...
Thanks to the powerhouse one-two punch of two sci-fi actioners, 20th Century Fox's "X2: X-Men United" and Warner Bros. Pictures' "The Matrix Reloaded," the spring boxoffice season raked in the second-highest boxoffice and admission counts in history. The national boxoffice for the spring season was $1.42 billion -- down nearly 10% from last year's record $1.57 billion. And while second place is usually nothing to crow about, this year -- relatively speaking -- it is. The reason is that spring 2002 turned in a phenomenal performance at the boxoffice and the turnstiles, as receipts were an unheard of 40% higher than any spring season that had come before -- a staggering percentage jump in any comparative analysis, representing nearly a half billion-dollar increase from a year earlier. The film largely responsible for driving spring 2002 to its record heights was Sony's "Spider-Man," which took in nearly $300 million by the end of the season. Fox's "Star Wars: Episode II -- Attack of the Clones" chipped in a helpful $141.3 million in eight days, and the distributor's "Ice Age" added $115.4 million during the season.