Universal sets summer record thanks to the Hulk movie
Universal already made box-office history this summer with three consecutive openings of more than $50 million: Bruce Almighty, which set a new record for a nonsequel comedy with $85.7 million over Memorial Day weekend and has taken in $239.5 million to d
Universal Sets Studio Record for Best Summer Ever Source: Universal Pictures Thursday, August 14, 2003
With Wednesday night's business, Universal Pictures set a new studio record for domestic summer box office, passing its previous summer record of $665.9 million from 2001. With three summer box office weekends still to come, Universal has already earned a total of $667.8 million this summer and $693.1 million this year.
In making the announcement, Universal Pictures Distribution President Nikki Rocco said, "This remarkable achievement could not have happened without the completely unified, perfectly orchestrated efforts of our incredibly passionate and tenacious production, marketing and distribution teams. Our summer slate was comprised of films with a great amount of diversity, and we adapted ourselves to every challenge. But since this is a 52-week business for us, the really good news is that we have an equally strong lineup for the fall and holiday season."
Universal already made box-office history this summer with three consecutive openings of more than $50 million: Bruce Almighty, which set a new record for a nonsequel comedy with $85.7 million over Memorial Day weekend and has taken in $239.5 million to date at the domestic box office; 2 Fast 2 Furious, which opened to $50.5 million and has grossed $126.0 million to date; and The Hulk, which set a new June record with its opening weekend of $62.0 million, and has taken in $130.9 at the domestic box office. Prior to this, no studio had ever had even two $50 million openings in a row.
In addition to these three number one openings, Universal had its fourth summer release to open to number one at the domestic box office with American Wedding, which took in $33.4 million in its first three days and has grossed $71.1 million to date. Seabiscuit, which opened July 25th in a smaller number of theaters nationwide and has held strongly since then, buoyed by excellent reviews and enthusiastic word-of-mouth, has taken in $73.8 million date. Johnny English, which had already grossed more than $116 million overseas prior to its domestic release, has amassed $26.5 million in the U.S. and Canada.