LOS ANGELES (AP) – The murder-mystery “Identity” made a killing at the box office, taking in $17 million in its first weekend and displacing “Anger Management” as the top movie.
“Anger Management” slipped to second place after two weekends in the top spot. The Adam Sandler-Jack Nicholson comedy grossed $16 million, pushing its 17-day total to $104.5 million.
The weekend’s other new releases debuted weakly. The con-men romp “Confidence,” with Edward Burns and Dustin Hoffman, came in at No. 5 with $4.75 million.
“It Runs in the Family,” a comic drama starring Kirk and Michael Douglas, opened at No. 9 with $3 million.
“The Real Cancun,” a big-screen variation of MTV’s “The Real World” produced by that show’s creators, took in $2.3 million to finish in 10th place.
Overall revenues rose, with the top 12 movies grossing $78.6 million, up 9 percent from the same weekend a year ago. For the year, though, the box office is lagging about 7 percent behind 2002’s revenues.
Business should heat up next weekend as “X2: X-Men United” opens. Analysts saying the sequel’s debut could exceed the $54.5 million first-weekend haul of “X-Men” in July 2000.
“‘X2’ is probably going to do great business, but it’s a tough comparison when you look at the year ago numbers of ‘Spider-Man,”‘ which debuted with a record $114.8 million, said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Exhibitor Relations.
Sony, the studio behind “Spider-Man,” had this weekend’s No. 1 and 2 movies in “Identity” and “Anger Management.”
“We’re having a very good weekend,” said Rory Bruer, president of Sony Pictures Releasing. “We really figured “Identity’ would open fairly strong, but this is far better than anticipated.”
“Identity,” with John Cusack, Ray Liotta and Amanda Peet, is a thriller about travelers stranded in a rainstorm at a motel where guests are bumped off one by one.
Playing in 2,733 theaters, “Identity” averaged a solid $6,220 a cinema. Among other new movies, “Confidence” averaged $2,539 in 1,871 theaters, “It Runs in the Family” averaged $2,486 in 1,207 cinemas, and “The Real Cancun” averaged $1,017 in 2,261 theaters.
Among limited-release debuts, Al Pacino’s thriller “People I Know” opened in five theaters with a $6,800 average. Pacino plays a publicist caught up in a murder mystery.
Matt Dillon’s directing debut “City of Ghosts,” in which he co-stars with James Caan in a thriller about insurance con men on the lam in Cambodia, averaged $6,269 at six theaters.
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