“X-Men: The Last Stand” cracked “The Da Vinci Code” over the holiday – storming to the largest Memorial Day weekend opening in box-office history.
The $120.1 million raked in by the final film in the superhero trilogy was the biggest debut so far this year – an honor previously held by “The Da Vinci Code” – and the fourth-largest debut of all time.
In addition to heroically edging out “Da Vinci” as highest opening of the year, the new “X-Men” beat the Memorial Day weekend record held by “The Lost World: Jurassic Park,” which earned more than $90.1 million over four days in 1997.
Despite being bumped from the top slot, the critically panned and religiously controversial “Da Vinci” still pulled in a heavenly $43 million and remained the top-grossing film internationally.
Computer-animated “Over the Hedge” slipped one slot to No. 3 in North America, with $35.3 million.
While the third “X-Men,” featuring a cast of brave and buff mutants with names like Storm (Halle Berry), Mystique (Rebecca Romijn) and Wolverine (Hugh Jackman), tore up silver screens, Tom Cruise’s third installment of “Mission: Impossible” lagged.
“Mission: Impossible III” grossed $8.6 million over the holiday, for a four-week total of $115.8 million. At the same stage in their cycles, 1996’s “Mission: Impossible” had earned about $145 million, and 2000’s “M:I 2” $177 million.
The Friday-to-Sunday haul for “X-Men: The Last Stand” ranked fourth on the all-time list. The three-day record for a film opening on a Friday is held by “Spider-Man,” which pulled in just under $115 million in 2002.
Rounding out the top 10 movies of the holiday weekend were “Poseidon” at No. 5 ($7 million), “RV” ($5.3 million), “See No Evil” ($3.2 million), “Just My Luck” ($2.3 million), “United 93” ($1.1 million), and “An American Haunting” ($936,680).
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The Top 10
(Memorial Day weekend)
1. X-Men: The Last Stand $120,125,000
2. The Da Vinci Code $43,000,000
3. Over The Hedge $35,342,000
4. Mission: Impossible III $8,567,000
5. Poseidon $7,000,000
6. RV $5,300,000
7. See No Evil $3,200,000
8. Just My Luck $2,300,000
9. United 93 $1,100,000
10. An American Haunting $936,680