“Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring” rang up a whopping $18.2 million in U.S. theaters on its opening day – and may eventually give “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone” a run for the money.
Distributor New Line Cinema reported the $100 million adaptation of the first part of J.R.R. Tolkien’s fantasy trilogy raked in the loot on 5,711 screens in 3,359 locations Wednesday.
The numbers were far below the $30.2 million one-day record set by “Harry Potter” last month, but that was widely expected; “Lord” is playing on one-third fewer screens and is half an hour longer than “Harry.”
“That means at most locations you can have only three shows a day, and only one in the evening,” said David Tuckerman, New Line’s president of domestic distribution.
“If we had done $14 million yesterday, we would have been thrilled,” said Tuckerman, who predicted the picture’s five-day take through Sunday is “probably going to be north of $65 million without too much trouble.”
“Harry Potter,” set a record by selling $90.2 million worth of tickets in three days.
“Lord” may not set opening records – films in the highly competitive December period rarely do – but experts said its final gross could eventually surpass “Potter” because of better reviews and expected Oscar nominations.
“Lord,” which took in an additional $11.6 million from 13 other countries where it opened on Wednesday, yesterday received four Golden Globe nominations, including Best Picture.
“Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers” is due for release next December, with the final installment due at the end of 2003.