Solid start for Pearl Harbor

Pearl Harbor: no surprise attack on box offices

Blockbuster movie Pearl Harbor made a good start at North American box offices over the US Memorial Day weekend - but it is unlikely to break any records.

The war epic took $39.7m (£27m) in its first two days, according to Disney's Touchstone Pictures, and analysts predicted it would have brought in some $75m (£52m) by Monday.

After a publicity onslaught - and much discussion of the film's possible effect on American-Asian relations - some reporters had predicted better results for the film's opening.

Chuck Viane, Disney's head of distribution, disowned such predictions, saying that they did not take into account the film's length.

'Terrific opening'

At just over three hours, Pearl Harbor can be shown three or at most four times a day - during which time a cinema could show The Lost World or The Mummy Returns four or more times.

Paul Dergarabedian, president of box office analysts Exhibitor Relations, said: "Considering its running time, I think it's a terrific opening - no other three-hour movie has done this well its opening weekend."

The film has been a major boost for Kate Beckinsale

Titanic, of a similar length, took only $28.6m (£20m) in its first weekend but went on to earn $600m (£414m) in the US and $1.8bn (£1.2bn) worldwide.

Like Titanic's Kate Winslet, Pearl Harbor's female lead Kate Beckinsale is British and the new film has already made her one of Hollywood's biggest stars.

Mitchell Rubenstein, co-chairman of internet ticket service MovieTickets.com, said that after visiting cinemas he believed Pearl Harbor would have the same effect on female film fans as Titanic.

"In between the tears, they said they were going to see it again as soon as they could," said Rubenstein, "It was the same reaction as Titanic, because of the love story and the young stars."