'Bourne' slays Homer in biggest Aug. film opening

LOS ANGELES, Aug 6 (Reuters) The amnesiac assassin Jason Bourne is back, and this time he clobbered Homer Simpson on his way to scoring the biggest film opening ever for the month of August.

''The Bourne Ultimatum,'' the third movie in the espionage action series starring Matt Damon as a one-time CIA hit man searching for his past, grossed 70.2 million dollars in its first weekend to rank as North America's top film at the box office, according to studio estimates yesterdy.

That tally far exceeded the debut ticket sales generated by the first two films in the Universal Pictures franchise.

By comparison, ''The Bourne Identity'' opened at No 2 with 27.1 million dollars in June 2002, and the ''The Bourne Supremacy'' landed at No. 1 in July 2004 with 52.5 million dollars. Those two films went on to gross nearly 5 million worldwide combined.

The latest ''Bourne'' total marks the biggest first weekend ever for a movie in August, surpassing the 67.4 million dollars opening posted by ''Rush Hour 2'' the same weekend in 2001.

''Bourne Ultimatum,'' which like its immediate predecessor was directed by British filmmaker Paul Greengrass, clearly benefited from the rave reviews it earned for its tightly wound, heart-pounding action.

Exit polls showed the movie played to a slightly older crowd than much of the summer's high-profile popcorn fare, with 57 per cent of its audience over the age of 30.

HOT SUMMER ''This is beyond all of the special-effects films that are in the marketplace. It offered a different kind of entertainment that's very satisfying,'' said Nicki Rocco, president of domestic distribution for Universal, which is controlled by General Electric Co.

''Bourne's'' robust debut continued what has been a very healthy summer for Hollywood, with domestic ticket receipts since May 1 up nearly six per cent compared with last year, according to box office tracking service Media By Numbers. This weekend's cumulative gross for all films is up about 25 per cent year on year.

Last week's domestic box office champion, ''The Simpsons Movie,'' a feature-length version of the long-running TV cartoon, slipped to second place in its second weekend with 25.6 million dollar in US and Canadian ticket sales.

Despite its 65 per cent drop-off from week to week, ''The Simpsons,'' from News Corp's 20th Century Fox, has now racked up about 128.6 million dollar domestically and 315.5 million dollar worldwide.

Another new wide release, the canine superhero comedy ''Underdog,'' arrived at No 3 on the box office chart with 12 million dollars in ticket sales for Walt Disney Co's Buena Vista Pictures.

Paramount Pictures' ''Hot Rod,'' featuring ''Saturday Night Live'' star Andy Samberg in his big-screen debut as a self-proclaimed stuntman, grossed five million dollar in its first weekend to land at No. 9.

''Bratz: The Movie,'' a live-action 'tween comedy based on the popular fashion doll line, opened at No. 10 with .3 million for Lionsgate, a unit of Lions Gate Entertainment Corp.

Reuters PBB VP0425