“Ghost Rider” Tops Box Office With Year’s Biggest Debut

Posted February 18, 2007 12:00 pm.

This article is more than 5 years old.

Hollywood’s had anything but a hot start to 2007, but “Ghost Rider,” which stars Nicholas Cage in a comic-book adaptation of a motorcycle stunt driver moonlighting as a collector of evil souls for the devil, is helping to change all of that quickly.

The film debuted in first place with $44.5 million, marking the year’s largest opening and easily crushing second place finisher, “Bridge To Terabithia,” which debuted with $22.1 million. 2007’s previous best was the $34.2 million debut from “Norbit” a week earlier.

Together, the movies sent “Norbit,” down to third place. The Eddie Murphy vehicle earned $16.8 million in its second week, lifting its total to $58.9 million.

In fourth place was romantic comedy “Music and Lyrics,” which stars Hugh Grant as a washed-up pop singer and Drew Barrymore as his unlikely songwriting partner. The film pulled in $14 million thanks to Valentine’s Day crowds, but got minimal interest beyond that.

Rounding out the top five was another romance, “Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls,” which opened with $12.1 million, a sharp drop from Perry’s previous February releases.

“Madea’s Family Reunion,” premiered with $30 million in 2006, and 2005’s “Diary of a Mad Black Woman,” debuted with $21.9 million.

But nothing came even close to “Ghost Rider,” which helped pull Hollywood out of its box-office doldrums with overall revenues rising for the first time in six weekends. The top 12 movies took in $141.4 million, up 28 per cent from the same weekend last year.

“This is the weekend that could turn the tide and get us going in the right direction,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers.

Based on a Marvel Comic, “Ghost Rider” was also the best opening weekend ever for Cage, beating the $35.1 million debut of “National Treasure.”

“Ghost Rider” also marks the beginning of another stretch of Hollywood ‘s comic-book adaptations, a genre that shows no signs of playing itself out despite what some critics suggest.

Coming this summer are two big comic-book sequels, Sony’s “Spider-Man 3” and 20th Century-Fox’s “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer.”

Here’s the rest of the weekend’s top 10, with all figures estimated according to Media By Numbers LLC.

1. “Ghost Rider,” $44.5 million.

2. “Bridge to Terabithia,” $22.1 million.

3. “Norbit,” $16.8 million.

4. “Music and Lyrics,” $14 million.

5. “Tyler Perry’s Daddy’s Little Girls,” $12.1 million.

6. “Breach,” $10.4 million.

7. “Hannibal Rising,” $5.5 million.

8. “Because I Said So,” $5 million.

9. “The Messengers,” $3.8 million.

10. “Night at the Museum,” $3.7 million.