'Bourne' box office sizzles at $70.2M

By Scott Bowles, USA TODAY
Jason Bourne may have finally discovered his true identity: box-office record-breaker.
The Bourne Ultimatum raked in $70.2 million this weekend, according to studio estimates from box-office trackers Nielsen EDI.


CHART: Top 10 weekend films

The third installment of the Matt Damon franchise enjoyed the largest debut for a film opening in August, handily beating 2001's Rush Hour 2, which opened to $67.4 million. Bourne also took in $15 million more than the most optimistic projections.

The question now is whether Damon will return to the series about an amnesiac spy.

FIND MORE STORIES IN: Matt Damon | James Bond | EDI | Gitesh Pandya | Bourne | Bourne Ultimatum | Ultimatum
He has expressed doubts. "After a while it would become 'The Bourne Redundancy,' " he told USA TODAY before the movie opened. "I'm not sure there's a fourth story to be told."

Universal Pictures executives hope he changes his mind. "We have not discussed a sequel," says Nikki Rocco, the studio's head of distribution. "But I think this could run like James Bond," a franchise that has taken in $4.5 billion worldwide over its 22-film history.

Certainly, Bourne compares well to 007. Ultimatum crushed any opening for a Bond film. The largest was 2002's Die Another Day, which made its debut at $47 million.

"Even with the high expectations it faced, this is an impressive opening," says Gitesh Pandya of BoxOfficeGuru.com. "August can be a tricky month."

That's particularly true when the movie is the 11th sequel of the summer.

"A lot of people will drop out of a franchise by the third film," he says, noting that ticket sales for the third installments of Spider-Man, Shrek and Pirates of the Caribbean fell short of the second films. "People can get sequeled-out quickly unless you deliver something new."

Pandya says Bourne could survive without Damon, but it would be unlikely.

"Everyone thought the Bond movies were done when Sean Connery dropped out, so it can be done," he says. "But I wouldn't advise it. Matt Damon is iconic in this role. My advice would be to wait two years, then pay him whatever he wanted to bring him back."

The Simpsons Movie dropped a hefty 65% from its debut but still took second place with $25.6 million. It has made $128.5 million in 10 days.

Live-action comedy Underdog met most expectations with an opening of $12 million, followed by the Adam Sandler comedy I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry with $10.5 million. Hairspray continued its strong run, dropping 41% to take fifth place and $9.3 million.

Among the other newcomers, Hot Rod did a middling $5 million, good for ninth place, while the toys-to-film adaptation Bratz was 10th with $4.3 million. El Cantante, the drama starring Jennifer Lopez and Marc Anthony, did a healthy $3.3 million in 524 theaters for a $6,000 per-theater average.