Top Ten Movies

Whether you say Top Ten Movies, best movies or block buster movies, one thing is for sure that these movies have something very special to offer their audiences. Let’s see what it takes to write, and make Top Movies.  According to John Truby, one of the best story consultants in Hollywood, don't be fooled by the notion that no one knows anything. Buyers may not know if a particular script will make over $100 million, but they have a pretty good idea of certain major story characteristics found in most blockbuster scripts. The top professional screenwriters -- the ones who get all the jobs -- know what they are, too. While the vast majority of screenwriters are off pounding out their simple three-act scripts, top screenwriters are using fundamentally different techniques.

Every year is unique and it’s really very hard to define which are and were the Top Movies in some particular year. However, there are many rating and review sites which rate these movies on many parameters by giving different weightage to different points and list Top Ten Movies.

The Top Ten Movies at North American theaters during first week of May 2004 followed by distribution studio, gross, total gross and number of weeks in release:

1. "Mean Girls," Paramount, $24.4 million, $24.4 million, one week.

2. "Man On Fire," Fox, $15 million, $44.2 million, two weeks.

3. "13 Going On 30," Sony, $9.8 million, $35 million, two weeks.

4. "Godsend," Lions Gate, $6.8 million, $6.8 million, one week.

5. "Laws of Attraction," New Line, $6.7 million, $6.7 million, one week.

6. "Envy," DreamWorks, $6.1 million, $6.1 million, one week.

7. "Kill Bill - Vol. 2," Miramax, $5.8 million, $52.6 million, three weeks.

8. "The Punisher," Lions Gate, $3.4 million, $29.7 million, three weeks.

9. "Home on the Range," Disney, $2.3 million, $45.5 million, five weeks.

10. "Scooby Doo 2: Monsters Unleashed," Warner Bros., $2.2 million, $79.6 million, six weeks.

Reviews of Last Week's Top Grossing, Top Ten Movies (During the second week of May 2004)[1]

1. Troy  ($ 46.9/$ 46.9)

2. Van Helsing  ($ 20.7/$ 85.1)

3. Mean Girls  ($ 10.2/$ 55.4)

4. Man on Fire  ($ 5.1/$ 64.2)

5. Breakin' All the Rules  ($ 5.1/$ 5.1)

6. 13 Going on 30  ($ 4.1/$ 48.5)

7. New York Minute  ($ 3.8/$ 10.8)

8. Laws of Attraction  ($ 2.0/$ 15.3)

9. Kill Bill Vol. 2  ($ 1.6/$ 60.8)

10. Envy  ($ 1.0/$ 11.9)

Unlike its namesake city, Warner Bros.' "Troy" won the battle for the box-office crown this weekend, grossing an estimated $46.9 million. Although impressive, the figure doesn't position "Troy" as the first breakout hit of beach season, perhaps hampered due to its 2 1/2-hour-plus running time and male demos diverted by the NBA playoffs. The period actioner starring Brad Pitt, Eric Bana and Orlando Bloom averaged $13,739 from 3,411 theatres. The bow marked the biggest ever for both director Wolfgang Peterson, surpassing "The Perfect Storm's" $41.3 million 2000, and Pitt, out-grossing "Ocean's Eleven's" $38.1 million in 2001. "Troy" also was the largest May opening for an R-rated non-sequel, besting "Gladiator's" $34.8 million in 2000. Studio polls reveal that the audience was nearly split between men and women, with 52 percent male and 48 percent female, with 60 percent under age 30.

"Troy" displaced Universal's "Van Helsing" from the top spot as the Hugh Jackman vampire vlick dropped 60 percent in its sophomore frame to $20.7 million. Meanwhile, Paramount's "Mean Girls" dropped to third with $10.2 million, dipping 26 percent in its third weekend of release. Fox's "Man on Fire" was fourth with $5.1 million.

Also new in theatres this weekend was Screen Gems' "Breakin' All the Rules," starring Jamie Foxx, which earned $5.1 million for an average of $3,861 from 1,318 moviehouses. Studio polls reveal that 52 percent of the audience was under 25, 60 percent female and 65 percent African-American.

Rounding out the top 10 were Columbia's "13 Going on 30" ($4.1 million); Warner Bros.' "New York Minute" ($3.8 million); New Line's "Laws of Attraction" ($2.0 million); Miramax's "Kill Bill Vol. 2" ($1.6 million); and DreamWorks' "Envy" ($1.0 million). Dropping off the list were "Godsend" and "Home on the Range."

In limited release, UA's "Coffee & Cigarettes" consumed $99,162 from five theatres in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco, averaging $19,832 from each; Wellspring's "Strayed" earned $19,531 from two houses in the Big Apple; Lions Gate's "A Slipping Down Life" slipped in $9,066 from five theatres; and Sony Classics' "Carandiru" grossed $17,945 from a half-dozen in New York and LA.

Overall, the weekend saw $112.0 million in ticket sales, down 30 percent from the same timeframe last year, when "The Matrix Reloaded" loaded the timeframe's $160.9 million total. So far 2004 is up 1.2 percent from 2003 with $2.91 billion.[2]