... Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones maintained its dominance over the box office as it raked in an estimated $12,783,000 on Friday, over 75% more than its nearest competitor Spider-Man. After nine days, its total has soared to $154,089,000, moving up 18 spots from Thursday to No. 91 on the all time chart.
George Lucas' $115 million digital epic lagged behind its predecessor The Phantom Menace for the fifth day in a row. Menace pulled in $13,531,561 on its comparable Friday in 1999, a gross that would equal over $15 million today when ticket price inflation is taken into account. Its total at that point was $153,728,197 after 10 days, or about $173 million adjusted.
Some may note that The Empire Strikes Back was the lowest grossing of the original trilogy, but it actually sold more tickets than Return of the Jedi, and it took two months before its weekend grosses began to fall behind Star Wars.
Star Wars: Episode II - Attack of the Clones jumped 41.5% from Friday to an estimated $18,087,000 on Saturday, 58% more than its nearest competitor Spider-Man. In 10 days, it has rocketed to $172,175,000 and leapt 23 spots from Friday to No. 68 on the all time chart in the process, landing just a smidgen behind fellow Fox 2002 release Ice Age.
Without adjusting for inflation, Clones' gross will start to lag behind Menace by Day 15 (Thursday) at the latest. Facing far more competition in coming weeks than Menace did, Clones will likely fall short of Menace's $431,088,297 final tally.
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Update 2: Box Office Mojo reports that AOTC earned an estimated $61.2 million for the four day Memorial weekend:
For Friday to Sunday, it made $47,480,000, down 41% from last weekend. As of Monday -- its 12th day of release -- the total is estimated at $202,506,000, making Clones the second fastest movie to hit the double century mark ever behind Spider-Man's nine-day sprint.