Aliens begin War with Surprise Attack

June 29, 2005

War of the Worlds gets a jump on the both the Independence Day long weekend and the competition when it opens tonight. The most important question regarding the film is whether the combination of Steven Spielberg and Tom Cruise can finally break the box office out of its 18 week slump?

In a word, no.

It doesn't matter than the film is one of the better reviewed wide releases of the year. It doesn't matter that the Alien Invasion genre was practically made for the Summer Blockbuster season. It doesn't matter how much extra publicity Tom Cruise's ... antics have generated. All that matter is it's going against the opening of Spider-Man 2.

The film should open huge with just over $20 million tonight, just under $15 million tomorrow, $65 million over the weekend and another $15 million on Monday. But no matter how impressive that opening might be, it isn't up the webslinger's start from last year.


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Filed under: War of the Worlds