Box Office Report

[avilesguy]

hey, this is what the box office report is about Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life, from www.yahoo.com (http://www.yahoo.com)

LOS ANGELES (Reuters) - "Spy Kids 3D: Game Over" beat "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: The Cradle of Life" in a weekend box office derby that pitted the two sequels against each other and the potentially Oscar-bound "Seabiscuit."

Paramount Pictures' "Lara Croft Tomb Raider: Cradle of Life" opened in fourth place with $21.7 million, well below the $47 million debut of the 2001 film that introduced moviegoers to the voluptuous British archeologist made popular in video games.

Wayne Lewellen, Paramount's president of distribution, said stiff box office competition and weaker sales of the new Lara Croft video game may have eroded the film's core fan base.

"We didn't anticipate that the competition level would be quite where it's at." Lewellen said. "This is the first time ever that we've had five movies gross over $20 million on a three-day weekend."

Let's go and see Lara and help her get to the top. I went to see the movie, and it's really good, don't pay attention to those critics, that only want to put down Lara. I recommend the movie to everyone. http://www.tombraiderforums.com/images/smilies/wave.gif

[tlr online]

Yup. Here's more... "The Tomb Raider sequel ranked fourth with $21.8 million, less than half what the original film earned in its opening weekend when it debuted in June 2001 with $47.7 million. Dergarabedian characterized the second Tomb Raider performance as further evidence of the unreliability of sequels this summer, comparing it to failed expectations for Charlie's Angels: Full Throttle. Seabiscuit came in fifth this weekend, with $21.5 million, although Universal Pictures argued that the movie was running in a different race, since it showed on at least 1,200 fewer locations than each of its rivals."

[laracroft8290]

Just buy tickets online without going to see the movie ;)

What does the next TR Movie (if there will be one) need in terms of directory, script, action etc? IMO, what happened with this film was that, people saw that it was coming out, and their minds reverted to TR1 and said "no way im not going to see that." But again IMO the first wasn't all that bad. It established Lara as a real person, and they had to move on from there with the sequel. They did that a bit with COL, but the action scenes were lacking. They just didn't jump out at me when I was sitting in the theatre. I do hope that they will go on to make a 3rd.

[avilesguy]

Here is more, one article i found in yahoo.com
http://movies.yahoo.com/news/ap/20030725/105915114000.html

'Tomb Raider' Sequel Better Than Original
Friday July 25 9:39 AM ET

Once again, Angelina Jolie is all dolled up with plenty of places to go as adventurer Lara Croft.

Unfortunately, she's again dragging a lot of empty baggage in a movie whose trappings fail to measure up to Jolie's flashy persona.

"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life" is better than its 2001 predecessor, "Lara Croft: Tomb Raider," a vapid adaptation of the video game whose only asset was the ultra-cool presence Jolie brought to the character.

The sequel has a somewhat more interesting story, slightly more villainous villains and a more furious onslaught of action, the latter largely due to the rapid-fire style of director Jan de Bont ("Speed," "Twister"). The costumes, exotic locations and a few of the stunts would fit snugly into a decent James Bond flick.

Yet there's still too little for Lara to hang her hat on. She's so plainly superior to all around her that she never feels truly in peril. In her supremely capable hands, anything antagonists can throw at her seems like a walk in the park.

It's as if Lara's a full-bodied dynamo fleshed out to a glorious three dimensions courtesy of modern game graphics, while everyone else is a flat, monochromed Pong paddle.

The movie opens with a promising undersea exploit as Lara goes diving in the Mediterranean to retrieve a map revealing the location of Pandora's Box.

Jolie's entrance in a black bikini riding a jet ski, and her dive in a body-hugging silver wet suit, make for an eye-catching start. That's followed by a taut underwater gunfight with bad guys and a narrow escape from an ancient submerged chamber.

"Cradle of Life" then settles into a modestly more engaging version of the go-fetch routine of the first "Tomb Raider" movie as Lara cavorts through Hong Kong, China and Africa in search of Pandora's little hope chest.

In Lara's world, Pandora's Box is not the Greek myth of a woman who unleashes all the world's evils from a forbidden receptacle. Rather, it's an artifact containing the origin of life on Earth, along with an "anti-life" force that could loose a devastating plague (the movie never bothers to explain just who left the box and why).

Lara's rival for Pandora's Box is international meanie Jonathan Reiss (Ciaran Hinds), a Nobel-winning scientist who's apparently run through his prize money and has turned to evil to pay the rent.

British intelligence conveniently teams Lara with old flame Terry Sheridan (Gerard Butler), a former agent turned mercenary. Sparks between them do not ensue, because Butler's a bore.

Also in Lara's corner are her men Friday, computer geek Bryce (Noah Taylor) and butler Hillary (Christopher Barrie), who as in the first movie, are potentially fun characters with too little screen time to come to life. Ditto for Djimon Hounsou as Lara's African buddy Kosa, a conceivably formidable ally who only pops up in the movie's final act.

And so "Cradle of Life" amounts to the Lara show, carried by Jolie's bemused elegance, aristocratic assurance, classy British accent, and grandly clad body to die a million video-game deaths for.

Good stuff if Jolie were strutting a fashion-show runway. Thin and forgettable to build an entire movie around.

"Lara Croft: Tomb Raider The Cradle of Life," a Paramount release, is rated PG-13 for action violence and some sensuality. Running time: 117 minutes. Two stars out of four.

[Techno Notice]

As its the first time in cinema records that so many films opened to such receipts, people couldn't really see all the films in one weekend.

I reckon COL's takings will increase in the coming weeks once this initial rush to movies like Spy Kids 3 calms down.

And its still a month away from hitting us here in Blighty yet.

[Simraider]

when IS it coming to britain? i think its really unfair that TR was originally thought up in britain and all the games made in derbyshire... and then the movie's released a month afta in the US. i mean its not as if they have 2 go 2 any extra work like translating to get it here...

[WarViking]

IMO Tomb Raider 1 was fairly ****py. You name it, it was wrong. Nothing really sold you that the movie was based on the game. Jolie had to carry this movie and even she was off on playing Lara. The movie seemed like it was thrown together... and that awfull music. I'll skip the list.

I thought TR 2 COL was a HUGE improvement over 1. Story, presentation, acting (mainly Lara, Rice), music, directing, etc. I thought most of the supporting cast sucked, even Terry, but at least they served a purpose and were written into the story correctly. And how about Jolie... she was absolutely on cue with everything Lara. A huge improvement over part 1. I was very impressed. Speech, facial expressions, stunts, movements, etc, All represented who Lara is.

I think Tomb Raider COL didn't do as well mainly cause TR 1 hurt the franchise and the double wammy was TR AOD game getting horrible reviews. TR COL was advertised more than T3, they spent a fortune promoting COL... so really there's no excuse why it couldn't whip the competition. And if COL doesn't pull in some decent numbers in the coming weeks, it will be lucky to break even.... so maybe no part 3. ::crosses fingers::

If you like Tomb Raider, you'll like the COL. Even if you don't like TR, this is a solid movie.

[Techno Notice]

The first TR movie didn't really hurt the franchise....it was massively successful (if not critically but financially) and paved the way for the sequel.

And saying COL hasn't done well after only a few days is a bit premature....

;)