"Bourne" slays Homer in biggest August film opening

By Steve Gorman

LOS ANGELES (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 its first weekend to rank as North America's top film at the box office, according to studio estimates on Sunday.

That tally, fueling an unusual late-summer rally at the multiplex, 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 in June 2002, and the "The Bourne Supremacy" landed at No. 1 in July 2004 with $52.5 million. Those two films went on to gross nearly $485 million worldwide combined.

The latest "Bourne" total marks the biggest first weekend ever for a movie in August, surpassing the $67.4 million 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 percent of its audience over the age of 30.

HOT SUMMER