From Variety:
The "Lord of the Rings" sequel passed $200 million at the North American box office on Sunday, outpacing its hit predecessor, while Leonardo DiCaprio racked up two movies in the top five, led by his new release, "Catch Me If You Can" at No. 2.
With overall business boosted by the Christmas holiday, "The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers" was the first choice of moviegoers in its second weekend. The Hobbit sequel grossed $48.9 million for the Dec. 27-29 period, according to estimates issued by its distributor, New Line Cinema.
After 12 days, the film has tallied $200.1 million. Its 2001 predecessor, "The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring" took an extra week to break that barrier.
"Catch Me If You Can," a crime caper directed by Steven Spielberg, ran off with $30 million during the weekend. Since opening on Christmas Day, it has tallied $48.6 million.

Following are the top 10 movies at the North American box office for the Dec. 27-29 weekend, according to studio estimates collected Sunday by Reuters. Final data will be issued Monday.

1 (1) The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers ........... $48.9 million
2 (*) Catch Me If You Can ....... $30.0 million
3 (2) Two Weeks Notice .......... $16.1 million
4 (3) Maid in Manhattan ......... $13.0 million
5 (4) Gangs of New York ......... $11.2 million
6 (5) Drumline .................. $ 8.4 million
7 (6) The Wild Thornberrys ...... $ 7.4 million
8 (9) Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets ... $ 6.5 million
9 (7) The Hot Chick ............. $ 4.8 million
10(10) Die Another Day ........... $ 4.5 million

NOTE: Asterisk indicates new release. Last weekend's position in parentheses.

TOTALS TO DATE
Harry Potter ............. $240.3 million
The Two Towers ........... $200.1 million
Die Another Day .......... $146.8 million
Maid in Manhattan ........ $57.4 million
Catch Me If You Can ...... $48.6 million
Two Weeks Notice ......... $43.6 million
Drumline ................. $36.9 million
Gangs of New York ........ $30.1 million
The Hot Chick ............ $22.2 million
The Wild Thornberrys ..... $18.5 million

Well, looks like "Two Towers" is a shoo-in to stomp "Potter" this year

Oh, in case anyone cares, "Star Trek: Nemesis" dropped to #11 this week. I can't believe this will be the lowest grossing of all the Trek films ($33 million so far). It certainly deserved to do better than "Star Trek V" or the weaker "Generations" and "Insurrection" IMHO.

With the extreme underperformance of Nemesis perhaps the Star Trek regime is one step closer to overthrow. I certainly can hope so, anyway.

The Two Towers almost surreal moneymaking strength is shocking even to me. I guess New Line did so well in expanding the audience from the first movie that it's going to steamroll over everything except Spider-Man (which IMO didn't deserve to make half of what it did).

I am quite surprised at the Two Towers success as well.
I love the movie and it's predecessor but movie audiences today usually go for the low brow stuff like Pearl Harbor and xxx and usually stay away from Fantasy stuff.

My faith is restored.

I can see why the Two Towers is doing far better then the first one. I think people who didn't particularly like the first one, or just thought it was ok, myself included, can enjoy the second movie more because its faster paced, and just about everyone can enjoy the battle at Helm's Deep.

P.S. Low Brow stuff rules.

I think the excellent dvd releases braught in a whole new audience like myself who didn't see the first film..

.This is a perfect example of the power of the dvd format helping both the film and the dvd itself

Job well done NEW LINE!!

Looks like GONY is continuing to under-perform.

It'll be lucky to hit $50 million.

Don't know what Miramax was thinking giving Scorsese $100 million for production, and spending $25 million promoting it.

I'm just surprised that "Catch Me If You Can" is doing so well against LOTR. I guess it's an entirely different movie.

Well, I think if it gets some Golden Globe awards and some Oscar nods it will flourish. FYI: the numbers for it this weekend were higher than last, even though it was on more screens.
Like I said, it has to do its business moderately, not right off the bat.

I had no idea Bond was nearing the $150M mark.

why was gony delayed for over a year

CMIYC is an excellent example of 'counterprogramming.'

I saw the film today and I think it's Spielberg's best film in many years. He handles semi-serious material far better than the weighty stuff these days. I much preferred it to Minority Report or A.I. or Saving Private Ryan.

I think SS needs to 'chill' and he might recover some of his old magic.

Actually, this has been true back in the days of VHS aswell. the original did alright but the sequels made more based on Video rentals. it's not a new concept, nor did DVD introduce us to this.

Huh? I thought Speilbergo + DiCaprio + Hanks would have been enough to be #1. All that and a shorter running time too (though it probably should have been about 10 minutes shorter). Oh well, way to go TTT.

Anybody know how you get that thumbs up to show up??

Thanks

Yeah type -up- except instead of - use :

Though.. I would've used a myself.. Halle Berry

How much of TTT's take is from the Movie Cash that was found in specially marked boxes for the 4-disc LOTR EE DVD (or the one with the 2 bookends)? Those movie cash tickets expire tomorrow night.

Pinocchio really bombed coming in 19th with the lowest per screen average of the top 20 movies.



Yep, Austin Powers 2 is a perfect example of the video rentals increasing the fanbase by huge margins. Austin Powers made 54 million while AP2 made 206 million, I wonder if that is the largest jump in box office gross from an original to sequel?

Hear, hear...

People in my area are going to be pissed. The local theater does not accept coupons, passes or whatever within the first few weeks of the movies opening. You have to purchase the tickets to see the movie. If the tickets expire tonight then many tickets will go unused.

That was more like a check that new line willpay to the theater. Ti can be used any time in the movie's run.

I feel bad for Star Trek. Nemesis is a good movie, easily one of the best in the franchise. Too bad they're going out on such a downer of a box office take. Beaten out by 'The Hot Chick'...argh.

D

I was looking at the box office results for the weekend, and noticed that My Big Fat Greek Wedding was at #12 and has grossed $222 million so far

Oh, and I saw TTT for the 3rd time tonight. Way to go TTT!