'Sum of All Fears' Tallies First Place Finish on Friday
by Brandon Gray
June 1, 2002

The Sum of All Fears detonated in first place on Friday with an estimated $9.5 million at 3,183 sites, comfortably ahead of all other movies in the marketplace. The $68 million thriller is on course to take in close to $30 million over the weekend, topping Clear and Present Danger's $20,348,017 as the biggest opening of the Jack Ryan franchise even when ticket price inflation is taken into account.

Meanwhile, Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones may be in need of a Midi-Chlorian transfusion. George Lucas' digital epic pulled in an estimated $5.3 million on Friday, down 58.7% from the same day last week. By comparison, The Phantom Menace earned $8,413,783 on its comparable Friday, down 37.8% en route to a $32,891,653 third weekend. If Clones follows a similar trajectory, it should grab about $21 million this weekend.

By its 16th day of release, Menace had amassed $222,866,471 (or about $250 million adjusted for inflation), while Clones has taken $216,609,000.

Spider-Man also took a sizable hit from last Friday, down 48.2% to an estimated $3.8 million. The Marvel Comics adaptation should scale to around $15 million for the weekend. At this rate, it should surpass Jurassic Park's $357,067,947 by Tuesday to claim the No. 5 on the all time chart.

It seems that "The Man" has brought Undercover Brother down, though he couldn't quite crush his soul. The funky low budget comedy nabbed an estimated $3.4 million at 2,167 theaters on Friday. That puts it on track to a solid $11 million first weekend. Whether that's enough to get a greenlight for the planned sequel remains to be seen.

Among sophomores, Spirit: Stallion of the Cimarron held up the best, easing 40.5% from last Friday to an estimated $2.7 million. Insomnia slipped 52.8% to an estimated $2.9 million, while Enough fell 55.1% to an estimated $2 million.