You said it. I still remember in May of 1998 there were huge lines for it at my local theatre. It'll be a long time before we see a movie with that kind of longevity again.

Not to mention that ticket prices were a few bucks less back then compared to the $9 - $10 bucks today.

also the movie was 3 hours and 21 min and not 3 hours and 28 min.

I think Peter Pan will do well on Xmas day, I wouldn't be surprised if it knocks RotK out of the #1 spot. It's a family movie and all

Something needs to beat Titanic. Anything. Well not Spiderman 2 but something.

Estimate for Weekend Dec 19-21, 2003
TW	LW	Movie	Fri - Mon Gross (Millions)	Pct. Chg.	Total (Millions)	Screens	Screen Avg.	Weeks
1	N	The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King	$73.6	n/a	$125.1	3,703	$19,875	1
2	N	Mona Lisa Smile	$12.0	n/a	$12.0	2,677	$4,482	1
3	1	Something's Gotta Give	$11.5	-28.4%	$33.5	2,677	$4,295	2
4	2	The Last Samurai	$7.3	-48.2%	$59.0	2,938	$2,484	3
5	3	Stuck on You	$5.4	-42.6%	$17.1	3,007	$1,795	2
6	6	Elf	$5.0	-16.9%	$154.3	2,451	$2,039	7
7	7	Bad Santa	$4.3	-29.2%	$42.1	2,225	$1,913	4
8	5	The Haunted Mansion	$4.2	-30.9%	$59.2	2,414	$1,757	4
9	4	Love Don't Cost a Thing	$4.0	-37.3%	$11.4	1,844	$2,147	2
10	8	Honey	$2.6	-46.7%	$23.5	1,824	$1,419	3

Final figures later today!

Chris

Um, why?

It is amazing the amount of money that these films have earned. FOTR and TTT combined have earned about 1.8 billion worldwide. I bet that ROTK will top 1 billion alone.

I wonder if anyone has merchandise dollar figures? The sales of DVDs, VHS tapes and any other LOTR merchandise have substantially added to this juggernaut.

God knows, I have contributed about $115 toward the merch (FOTR and TTT collector's sets $100 and TTT regular DVD $15). That doesn't include the ticket sales. In theaters, I saw FOTR twice, TTT once and ROTK twice.

And, it cost less than $300 million to make all 3 of them! What a success story!

I'm not. Have you seen the trailer?

Even though the movie has been getting decent reviews, the trailers are just terrible. I remember seeing the trailers for it before a few movies over the past few months and no one in the theaters were laughing.

Spider-Man 2 won't even beat it's original. It won't even make 300 million. The newness has worn off and the film won't generate the kind of hype and excitement the first film did.

It's already almost made more than Matrix Regurgitated's entire gross!!!!!

Also, we're in a different time now. That was still several months after 9/11, and a superhero type movie like Spiderman was perfect for lots of people.

I hope to God Spider-man 2 doesn't do as well....but back on topic, Titanic is a good movie, not as good as its numbers suggest, but good nonetheless. IMO, ROTK should end up being one of the largest money makers in movie history, but it won't beat Titanic. That thing was ridiculous.

In terms of Spider-man 2, even if it doesn't make over $400 million dollars like the first film, I will guarantee you this: the film will break records that opening weekend. It has a good chance of being the first film to pass the $100 million mark in 2 days. I bet you it will make more than $250 million, but who knows. If the film is good and lives up to the hype, the film will make tons of money. Even if all the GFB virgins here are saying, "Oooh, I hope Spider-man 2 bombs!" It WILL make tons of money. Most people I know in real life have all enjoyed the first film and they'll probably go see the sequel.

While it won't make Titanic numbers, what movie will?

Unless Luca$ says Episode III will be the last Star Wars film ever in theaters, then the GFBs will go every other day to see it.

And I myself am happy with the success ROTK is having. It's a fantastic film (I did think the Matrix films were better... so what do I know...) and it deserves all the money it rakes in so maybe Peter Jackson can make a Dead-Alive 2.

What's a GFB?

I was thinking Gay Fan Boy but then those are the ones that elevated Spiderman to $400 mil.

Yep--I was $10 million short in my estimate. ROTK may just be able to clear $400 million if its legs are as good as I think they could be.

The response to Cold Mountain is not even lukewarm so far. Maybe my prediction of ROTK's best picture loss will be wrong too, but I'm sticking to it for now.

Why does eveyone hate Spiderman?? I thought it was a good movie.

This is the internet, son.

Titanic won't get beat for another ten years. And by then, it'll just be due to rising ticket prices. Adjusted gross, it's already been beat by Gone With the Wind. That movie had some legs.

True but it also had at least a half dozen theatrical releases (I first saw it in its fourth release in 1960) in the era before home video.

>>>Hello? The last Harry Potter movie was like 2 hours and 45 minutes! Not as long as ROTK, but not exactly short.

The only scene that got any laughs was the Cher/Frankie Munez in bed scene... that one got me every time, too.

Final Figures for Weekend Dec 19-21, 2003
TW	LW	Movie	Fri - Mon Gross (Millions)	Pct. Chg.	Total (Millions)	Screens	Screen Avg.	Weeks
1	N	The Lord of the Rings : The Return of the King	$72.6	n/a	$124.1	3,703	$19,613	1
2	N	Mona Lisa Smile	$11.5	n/a	$11.5	2,677	$4,306	1
3	1	Something's Gotta Give	$11.4	-28.9%	$33.4	2,677	$4,264	2
4	2	The Last Samurai	$7.8	-44.8%	$59.5	2,938	$2,644	3
6	6	Elf	$5.5	-8.6%	$154.8	2,451	$2,245	7
5	3	Stuck on You	$5.3	-43.9%	$17.0	3,007	$1,757	2
7	7	Bad Santa	$5.1	-15.1%	$42.9	2,225	$2,293	4
8	5	The Haunted Mansion	$3.9	-36.0%	$58.8	2,414	$1,627	4
9	4	Love Don't Cost a Thing	$3.8	-40.6%	$11.2	1,844	$2,033	2
10	8	Honey	$2.7	-44.3%	$23.6	1,824	$1,484	3

Chris

Titanic has sold more tickets than any film in history. Also, the final figures for the cost of the LOTR trilogy is almost $400 million. Once Fellowship made tons of money, they felt comfortable with adding to the budget for reshoots and better FX shots for the last two films. And I predict it will take 25 years before we see a movie with legs like Titanic. Remember, that movie was number #1 for 16 weeks in a row. IN A ROW.

With return business, positive word of mouth, and Oscar nominations and wins, ROTK will easily hit $400 million, IMHO. After all, that's what Spiderman did. Will it hit $500 million? Very hard to believe, but anything is possible....

Yes, I have. You seem to think that the public won't flock to something that doesn't look funny? The American Pies, Scary Movies, and last few Austin Powers are not comedic masterpieces. Hmm, guess they all bombed?

Its hard to compare movies nowadays with older movies. Comparing ROTK or Titanic with Gone with the Wind is useless.

Yes, ticket prices are inflated now. But, more people went to the movies back in 1939 since they didn't have DVD, VHS or television. But then again, the population was smaller.

It is difficult to compare them.