Date: 8th January 2001

Cast Away Rises To The Top Again


After its third weekend, Tom Hanks' Cast Away remained an island unto itself as it earned an estimated $24.1 million, separated from the No. 2 film, the Mel Gibson-Helen Hunt comedy What Women Want by $8.6 million.

Cast Away has now pulled in $143.6 million, with analysts predicting that it could double that amount. "Cast Away is doing blockbuster business, and it was not a movie that was an obvious (hit) despite the great performance and directing,'' entertainment analyst Art Rockwell told Bloomberg News. "Hanks' performance is so incredible that people just have to see it.

There's been lots of word-of-mouth on this one." The weekend results exceeded the expectations of 20th Century Fox's distribution chief Bruce Snyder, who told the Associated Press: "In all honesty, I thought it would do more like $18 or $19 million this weekend, so I've got to go back and revise all my numbers."

Source: Studio Briefing