'Clones' En Route to $62 Million Memorial Day Weekend
by Brandon Gray
May 26, 2002

Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones jumped 41.5% from Friday to an estimated $18.1 million on Saturday, 58% more than its nearest competitor Spider-Man. In 10 days, it has rocketed to $172.2 million and leapt 23 spots from Friday to No. 68 on the all time chart in the process, landing just a smidgen behind fellow Fox 2002 release Ice Age.

Clones's trajectory now points to around $62 million over the four-day Memorial Day weekend, with Friday to Sunday accounting for $48 million of that. It should blast past the $200 million mark by Monday—its 12th day of release—making it the second fastest movie ever to do so behind Spider-Man, which did it in nine.

By comparison, 1999's The Phantom Menace enjoyed a 42.9% bump-up on its comparable Saturday to $19,330,780, which would equal over $21 million today if ticket price inflation is taken into account. Its total stood at $173,058,977 after 11 days, or about $194 million adjusted.

Menace's long Memorial Day weekend ended up at $66,902,422, with $51,399,863 of that coming from the Friday to Sunday period. The four-day session would be the equivalent of over $75 million today.

Without adjusting for inflation, Clones' gross will start to lag behind Menace by Day 15 (Thursday) at the latest. Facing far more competition in coming weeks than Menace did, Clones will likely fall short of Menace's $431,088,297 final tally.

Meanwhile, Spider-Man climbed 57.2% from Friday to an estimated $11.4 million on Friday for a 23-day total of $316.6 million. The Marvel Comics adaptation should net around $36 million for the four-day weekend.

At No. 3, the $50 million Al Pacino-Robin Williams thriller Insomnia took in an estimated $7.9 million for a two-day haul of $14 million, up 31.2% from Friday and pointing to a $26 million Memorial Day weekend.

Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron rustled up an estimated $7 million for $11.5 million in two days, a 53.9% boost over Friday. DreamWorks' $80 million traditionally animated feature is galloping to $23 million over the long weekend, nowhere near the $55,215,620 that the studio's Shrek gobbled up on the same frame last year but solid given its more limited appeal.

Jennifer Lopez's Enough rounded out the top five with an estimated $5 million, representing a slight 11.9% bump-up over Friday. With $9.6 million in the till after two days, the female empowerment flick may muster up around $17.5 million by the end of Monday.