Movie Fans Hurry To Theatres For “Rush Hour 3”

Jackie Chan and Chris Tucker mean business, whether you’re a Hollywood bad guy or a Hollywood producer.

And that was proven on the big screen and at the box office over the weekend, as fans of the buddy cop “Rush Hour” series jammed theatres to see the third installment, making the last of this summer’s big budget Hollywood films the top movie at the weekend box office with $50.2 million.

Last week’s champ, ” The Bourne Ultimatum,” fell to second place with $33.7 million.

Interestingly though, ” Rush Hour 3” didn’t do nearly as well as its predecessor, which sucked up $67.4 million when it hit theatres in 2001. Then again, it was the sixth so-called “threequel” of the summer to open as the weekend’s top film and it ranks as the fourth-best August opening on record.

“We really never felt we were going to get where the second one was,” said David Tuckerman, head of distribution for New Line. “The competitive landscape has changed dramatically in the six years since the last film. We figured we’d be in the 50s and that’s where we are.”

Still, with all of the trilogies and ” The Simpsons Movie” putting together a three-week total of $152 million, Hollywood might be looking at its first $4-billion summer.

“We’ve been riding a wave of momentum that started with `Transformers’ in July,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracker Media By Numbers. “We already stand at $3.6 billion at the box office. The $4-billion summer, once thought impossibility, is definitely within reach.”
  
No other blockbuster films are scheduled this summer. But next week’s opening film, ” Superbad,” is from the same team that made this year’s hit comedy “Knocked Up” and could do well, Dergarabedian said.

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

   1. “Rush Hour 3,” $50.3 million.
   2. “The Bourne Ultimatum,” $33.7 million.
   3. “The Simpsons Movie,” $11.1 million.
   4. “Stardust,” $9 million.
   5. “Underdog,” $6.5 million.
   6. “Hairspray,” $6.4 million.
   7. “I Now Pronounce You Chuck and Larry,” $5.9 million.
   8. “Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix,” $5.4 million.
   9. “No Reservations,” $3.9 million.
   10. “Daddy Day Camp,” which opened Wednesday, $3.3 million.