HOLLYWOOD, July 23 -- Alien-invasion blockbuster 'Independence Day' has sprinted past the $200 million mark on its 21st day of release, beating the record of 23 days set in 1993 by 'Jurassic Park.' 'Independence Day' took in an impressive $2.7 million at 2,972 theaters on Monday to push its take to $201.7 million. The thriller, already the 20th highest domestic grosser of all time, should continue to draw powerfully enough for the rest of the summer to finish its run around $300 million. The 20th Century Fox release previously set records for being the quickest to reach $100 million (seven days) and $150 million (12 days). The previous marks were set by 'Jurassic Park,' which needed nine days to hit $100 million, 15 for $150 million, 23 for $200 million and 38 for $250 million before finishing at $356 million. With a weekend total of $21.3 million, 'Independence Day' was the only release to perform well against the opening of the Summer Olympics. Its hold on moviegoers helped doom the openings of a quartet of releases -- 'Kazaam,' 'Multiplicity,' 'The Frighteners' and 'Fled' -- all of which debuted at less than $5.6 million. Fox's latest campaign for 'ID4' carries the tagline 'Get off our planet.' It will face serious competition Wednesday when Warner Bros. opens much-praised legal thriller 'A Time to Kill,' starring Matthew McConaughey and Sandra Bullock, but it should manage another $15 million over the weekend to go well over $220 million by the end of the week.
The next milestone for 'ID4' will come next week when it tops Warner's 'Twister' as the top-grossing 1996 release. 'Twister' has topped $230million after 12 weeks in release. The 20 top-grossing domestic movies, year of release, total gross: 1. 'E.T. -- The Extraterrestrial,' 1982, $399.8 million. 2. 'Jurassic Park,' 1993, $356 million. 3. 'Forrest Gump,' 1994, $329 million. 4. 'Star Wars,' 1977, $322 million. 5. 'The Lion King,' 1994, $313 million. 6. 'Home Alone,' 1990, $281.6 million. 7. 'Return of the Jedi,' 1983, $263.7 million. 8. 'Jaws,' 1975, $260 million. 9. 'Batman,' 1989, $251.2 million. 10. 'Raiders of the Lost Ark,' 1981, $242.4 million. 11. 'Beverly Hills Cop,' 1984, $234.8 million. 12. 'Twister,' 1996, $230.4 million. 13. 'The Empire Strikes Back,' 1980, $223 million. 14. 'Ghostbusters,' 1984, $220.9 million. 15. 'Mrs. Doubtfire,' 1993, $219 million. 16. 'Aladdin,' 1992, $217.4 million. 17. 'Ghost,' 1990, $217 million. 18. 'Back to the Future,' 1985, $208.2 million. 19. 'Terminator 2: Judgment Day,' 1991, $204 million. 20. 'Independence Day,' 1996, $201.7 million.
