Box Office

As families fussed with unpacking Winnebagos and buying school supplies, movie theaters were relative ghost towns over the Labor Day weekend. But that didn’t keep Jeepers Creepers 2 from opening with $18.4 million and eclipsing its 2001 predecessor’s record take for the four-day holiday. The dearth of fresh film fare helped Disney’s third smash hit of the summer, Freaky Friday, close in on the ranks of the season’s new $100 million toppers — S.W.A.T., Seabiscuit, The Italian Job, and Charlie’s Angels 2. Indie flicks also maintained their collective winning streak: American Splendor entered the top 20 while the wayward-kid drama Thirteen continued to steal the show.

TOP 20

WEEKEND NUMBER WEEKEND WEEKS IN GROSS GROSS* OF PER-SITE RELEASE TO DATES AVERAGE SITES[1]

1 JEEPERS CREEPERS 2 $18.4 3,124 $5,879 1 $18.4 2 FREAKY FRIDAY $12.6 3,067 $4,109 4 $90.9 3 PIRATES OF THE CARIBBEAN $10.8 2,227 $4,858 8 $275.0 4 S.W.A.T. $10.8 2,781 $3,876 4 $102.7 5 OPEN RANGE $10.8 2,244 $4,790 3 $43.5 6 SEABISCUIT $9.0 2,556 $3,545 6 $104.6 7 FREDDY VS. JASON $8.7 2,929 $2,957 3 $73.9 8 THE MEDALLION $6.2 2,652 $2,342 2 $16.9 9 UPTOWN GIRLS $5.6 2,166 $2,589 3 $30.4 10 AMERICAN WEDDING $4.8 1,810 $2,630 5 $97.7 11 MY BOSS’S DAUGHTER $4.5 2,206 $2,047 2 $11.6 12 THE ITALIAN JOB $3.9 1,964 $2,009 14 $100.9 13 SPY KIDS 3-D: GAME OVER $3.7 2,385 $1,567 6 $107.4 14 FINDING NEMO $2.3 1,053 $2,220 14 $332.7 15 LE DIVORCE $2.1 701 $2,956 4 $6.3 16 BAD BOYS II $2.0 869 $2,254 7 $135.1 17 WHALE RIDER $1.5 503 $3,006 13 $16.9 18 DIRTY PRETTY THINGS $1.4 383 $3,686 7 $4.7 19 LARA CROFT TOMB RAIDER $1.4 1,030 $1,328 6 $64.0 20 AMERICAN SPLENDOR $1.1 88 $12,675 3 $2.1

SOURCE: NIELSEN EDI. WEEKEND OF AUG. 29-SEPT. 1 *WEEKEND-GROSS AND GROSS-TO-DATE FIGURES IN MILLIONS

[1] INCLUDES SOME MULTISCREEN THEATERS AND PRINTS SHIPPED AS WELL AS INDIVIDUAL SCREENS

STUDIO RANKING*

TOP-GROSSING MOVIE PERCENTAGE TOTAL OF MARKET REVENUE** SHARE

1 DISNEY Finding Nemo 19.8 $1,172.3 2 SONY Anger Management 13.9 $824.0 3 WARNER BROS. The Matrix Reloaded 12.5 $738.3 4 UNIVERSAL Bruce Almighty 12.4 $734.4 5 20TH CENTURY FOX X2: X-Men United 10.9 $643.3 6 PARAMOUNT How to Lose a Guy… 7.3 $432.6 7 MIRAMAX Chicago 6.2 $365.6 8 NEW LINE LOTR: The Two Towers 5.4 $317.7 9 MGM/UA Legally Blonde 2 3.9 $231.9 10 DREAMWORKS Old School 3.9 $228.7