The Return of the King" open at 34.1 million

[trailergod]

http://movies.yahoo.com/news/fc?d=tm...d_of_the_rings

Call it return of the cash. "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King" took in $34.1 million domestically on opening day, easily beating the debuts of the fantasy epic's first two installments, distributor New Line Cinema said Thursday. It was a record debut for a movie opening on Wednesday, surpassing the $28.5 million take for "Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace" in 1999.

[Jake]

THis trilogy is going to have some SERIOUS payoff. I mean imagine how much just RotK will make, and then the DVDs, and there must be another DVD release, like a trilogy relaese

Man, some serious $$$

[streetpreacher]

wow, didn't expect it to do that well, because of its length. i wonder what the per theater average will be

[beijdak]

www.boxofficeguru.com is following day-by-day totals along with per theatre averages.

[trailergod]

WOW
http://story.news.yahoo.com/news?tmp...boxoffice_dc_7

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - Like an army of orcs, moviegoers around the world stormed movie theaters to gasp at the spectacle of "The Lord of the Rings: The Return of the King," the much-praised conclusion of director Peter Jackson's lucrative hobbit trilogy.

The fantasy saga sold $125.1 million worth of tickets in its first five days of release across the United States and Canada, setting several new records in the process, its distributor New Line Cinema said on Sunday.

Additionally, the film earned $121 million from 28 other countries. With $246 million in the bag worldwide, the film is on target to reach $470 million by the end of next weekend, said Rolf Mittweg, New Line's president of worldwide marketing and distribution. Thereafter, its performance depends on such factors as word-of-mouth, repeat business and Academy Award nominations (due Jan. 27), he said.

The first film in the series, "The Fellowship of the Ring," ended up with $865 million worldwide after its December 2001 release, while "The Two Towers" pulled in $921 million a year later.

The fantasy saga sold $125.1 million worth of tickets in its first five days of release

[Kn'thrak]

Bet Miramax is spewing over these sales. Sucked in!

[BigRicky]

still think spidey will hold for largest opening over 3 days

[blugh]

Well, of course Spidey has the 3-day record.. especially when they can hold 150% more screenings due to how much shorter it was. But I honestly think RotK can beat Spidey on total gross and maybe even top Titanic... knock on wood.

[BigRicky]

o im sure it will do better than spidey in the overall b.o. it has a much larger audience, and is an amazing film nonethless. but i dont know if it will be titanic

[streetpreacher]

Originally posted by BigRicky
o im sure it will do better than spidey in the overall b.o. it has a much larger audience, and is an amazing film nonethless. but i dont know if it will be titanic

i also think it will beat spidey overall, but there's no way it will do more than titanic. i don't think the audience has grown so much since the two towers was released. especially if you only look at the us numbers alone, it would have to make about 80% more than ttt to pass titanic, that's way out of sight.

[Lafce]

I've just added to the cash that ROTK made - I bought tickets for the Premiere here on January 2nd (20:00 local time ). Can't wait, can't wait!!!
Oh, and btw - I'm going in the army on the 16th...6 months service (maybe 4 - depends on the new law) !