The Attraction of ‘The Truman Show’

Forget about Nielsen ratings. The life of Truman Burbank also makes for a successful movie.

“The Truman Show,” which stars Jim Carrey as a man who isn’t aware that his entire life has been the subject of a wildly popular television program and that everyone around him are actors, grossed $31.5 million on its opening weekend.

“It got universally good reviews and Jim Carrey has a built-in audience--those two elements combined to bring people out to see this film,” said Paul Dergarabedian, executive vice president of the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. “People were intrigued by the premise.”

Also opening strong was the Michael Douglas-Gwyneth Paltrow thriller “A Perfect Murder,” which is loosely based on the film “Dial M for Murder.” It debuted at $16.6 million.

“Neither of these films were big, special-effects pictures,” Dergarabedian noted. “But they had something people were looking for.”

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “The Truman Show” $31.5 2,315 1 (Paramount) $31.5 $13,625 2. “A Perfect Murder” $16.6 2,845 1 (Warner Bros.) $16.6 $5,840 3. “Godzilla” $9.7 3,310 3 (Sony/TriStar) $114.0 $2,934 4. “Hope Floats” $8.6 2,404 2 (Fox) $28.6 $3,557 5. “Deep Impact” $6.7 3,280 5 (Paramount/DreamWorks) $122.0 $2,029 6. “The Horse $5.2 2,362 4 Whisperer” (Disney/Touchstone) $51.8 $2,222 7. “Bulworth” $2.9 1,794 4 (Fox) $21.6 $1,218 8. “Titanic” $1.65 1,219 25 (Paramount/Fox) $581.9 $1,353 9. “I Got $1.64 655 2 the Hook-Up” (Dimension) $7.2 $2,501 10. “The Quest $1.3 1,562 4 for Camelot” (Warner Bros.) $19.2 $835

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