No fireworks for weekend box office.

Jul 08, 2003 by Ian Evans

Apparently the hot dogs and fireworks were more appealing for audiences this Fourth of July weekend.

Analysts were predicting big things for Arnie’s return to the role of the Terminator and another comedy from America’s sweetheart Reese Witherspoon. The box office numbers were lower than expected, a continuing trend over the last four weeks and a summer B.O. haul that’s 7% lower than last year.

Terminator 3: The Rise of the Machines took in $44 million from Friday to Sunday and a less than stellar $72.3 million from its Wednesday opening. Legally Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde took in $22.2 million over the weekend and $38.5 million over the weekend. While Charlie’s Angels 2: Full Throttle earned $14 million in its second weekend, that was only $2.5 million more than Pixar’s Finding Nemo, which took in $11.5 million in its sixth week. The computer animated family flick now has almost $275 million in its treasure chest. Ang Lee’s The Hulk rounded out the top five with $8.2 million in its third week.

The DreamWorks crew expected some big things for its animated Sinbad: Legend of the Seven Seas, which featured the voice talents of Hollywood heavyweights Brad Pitt, Catherine Zeta-Jones and Michelle Pfeiffer. The film opened this week in sixth place with $6.8 million…just $800,000 more than Fox Searchlight’s low budget horror, 28 Days Later, which was in its second week of release.