On the flip side, apparent winners don't fare so well. You might think The Mummy Returns and Pearl Harbor, both hovering around $200 million at the box office, are big hits, right? Not according to the FLI, since both films pretty much flamed out after a bloated opening weekend. Despite all the number crunching, flops are still flops: In its first three days, Chris Rock's Pootie Tang took in just under half of all the money it would ever make—a piddly $3.3 million.

By our reckoning, some seeming underperformers emerge as belles of the box office ball—like a certain Nicole Kidman-Ewan McGregor musical, which opened at a modest $13.7 million and cancanned to $57 million. "You love all your children," says Tom Rothman, chairman of Fox Filmed Entertainment, which also released Dolittle 2 and Apes. "But if you Sophie's Choice-d me, I'd say that Moulin Rouge was a particularly gratifying summer success. People who loved that movie were passionate zealots."

Another leggy hit is Reese Witherspoon's Legally Blonde. "It's the most pleasing movie of the summer," gushes producer Sid Ganis, whose Adam Sandler vehicle Deeds bows next June. "I know I came away saying 'Oh man, this is some great movie!'"

We know. We've done the math.

Originally posted Sep 14, 2001 Published in issue #614 Sep 14, 2001 Order article reprints
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