Bourne film sequel reigns supreme at US box office

MATT Damon’s The Bourne Supremacy, the sequel about the amnesiac assassin he played in The Bourne Identity, racked up $53.5 million (€44m) at the weekend, double the opening for the Bourne Identity.

Michael Moore’s Fahrenheit 9/11 was No. 7 with $5m, lifting its domestic total to $103.35m, the first documentary ever to top $100m.

Halle Berry’s critically derided comic-book adaptation Catwoman opened a distant third with $17.16m, behind I, Robot, which took in $22.05m to lift its 10-day total to $95.4m.

The Bourne Supremacy, starring Damon as CIA killing machine Jason Bourne, outdid another super-agent with the same initials. The sequel’s opening weekend topped the $47.1m debut for Die Another Day, the best ever premiere for the James Bond franchise.

Universal Studios made The Bourne Supremacy for about $75m, a bargain price in a business where many summer thrillers cost $100m or more to produce.

“Making this film at a reasonable budget by today’s standards just is something else to celebrate,” said Universal’s head of distribution Nikki Rocco.

Catwoman, which cost a bit less than $100m to make, was a disappointment for distributor Warner Bros.

“I was hoping it would open up with a few more dollars in the bank,” said Warner head of distribution Dan Fellman.

“But it’s a pretty competitive weekend out there. We’ll have to see how we hold up during the week.”

Fahrenheit 9/11, produced for just $6m, stands with Mel Gibson’s religious blockbuster The Passion of the Christ as the year’s big box-office surprises.

Disney refused to let subsidiary Miramax release the documentary, Moore’s assault on President Bush over the September 11 attacks, so Miramax bosses Harvey and Bob Weinstein bought the film back and distributed it independently. But while Disney chief Michael Eisner said Fahrenheit 9/11 was too political, he recently said he saw it and liked it.

Fahrenheit 9/11 has done more business than anything released so far this year by Disney, which has been in a slump with duds like The Alamo, King Arthur and Around the World in 80 Days.

Two films debuted strongly in limited release. The samurai tale The Blind Swordsman: Zatoichi opened with $56,778 in four theaters. Irish star Colin Farrell’s drama A Home at the End of the World premiered with $66,000 in five theatres.