‘Scorpion King’ Rules Supreme in April

“The Scorpion King” muscled its way to the top of the charts over the weekend, grossing $36.1 million to shatter previous April box-office records. The prior record for a film opening in April was set in 1999 by “Life,” a prison comedy starring Eddie Murphy and Martin Lawrence, which opened with $20.4 million in ticket sales. “The Matrix,” however, which technically opened the last day in March 1999, took in $27.8 million in its first weekend, April 2-4.

The urban thriller “Changing Lanes” dropped to second place, grossing $11.1 million, while the new Sandra Bullock film, “Murder by Numbers,” opened in third place with $9.3 million.

“The Scorpion King” is the fourth film this year to open with more than $30 million in box office, joining “Panic Room,” “Blade II” and “Ice Age.” Only one film, “Hannibal,” had achieved that goal by this date last year.

*--* Weekend Box Office Movie Three-day Screens/ Average Weeks in release (Studio) gross/ Total (millions) 1 “The Scorpion $36.1 3,444 1 King” (Universal) $36.1 $10,475 2 “Changing Lanes” $11.1 2,642 2 (Paramount) $32.8 $4,189 3 “Murder by $9.3 2,663 1 Numbers” (Warner $9.3 $3,495 Bros.) 4 “The Rookie” $6.5 2,507 4 (Disney) $53.8 $2,573 5 “Panic Room” $6.0 2,825 4 (Sony/Columb $82.0 $2,126 ia) 6 “Ice Age” $5.9 2,820 6 (Fox) $159.6 $2,093 7 “The Sweetest $5.1 2,670 2 Thing” (Sony/Columb $16.9 $1,912 ia) 8 “High Crimes” $3.9 2,409 3 (Fox) $30.9 $1,628 9 “Clockstoppers” $2.8 2,188 4 (Paramount) $31.8 $1,292 10 “Frailty” $2.2 1,497 2 (Lions Gate) $7.8 $1,446 Source: Exhibitor Relations Co

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