Although X-Men: The Last Stand took a substantial 28% drop in its second day, earning $32.5 million, the estimate for the Friday through Sunday portion of the four-day holiday weekend is $107 million, the largest ever for Memorial Day weekend and the fourth-biggest in box office history. The 20th Century Fox sequel opened in 3,690 theaters and grossed a massive $28,997 per theater.
On the all-time list, X-Men: The Last Stand ranks behind only Spider-Man ($114 million), “Star Wars: Episode III Revenge of the Sith” ($108.4 million) and “Shrek 2” ($108 million) for opening weekend gross. None of the other films opened on a holiday weekend.
For Memorial Day openers, “The Last Stand” crushed the previous three-day high of $72 million, set by “The Lost World: Jurassic Park” in 1997. “The Lost World” earned an additional $18 million during the Monday holiday.
X-Men opened to $54 million in 2000 and X2: X-Men United launched with $86 million.
Check back on Monday for the four-day holiday estimate, and on Tuesday for the final actual weekend gross.
Source: Reuters
