RENT Film Opens at #5 in US Box Office

By: Nov. 27, 2005
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Reuters reports that the film version of Rent opened at number 5, estimated to earn $10.7 million for the weekend, and $18.1 million since the film opened on Wednesday. This places the film behind Harry Potter, the Johnny Cash biopic Walk the Line, Yours, Miine & Ours, and Disney's Chicken Little. Sources in the Reuters report noted that the opening fell below a hoped-for opening of $20-$25 million, but that positive exit poll numbers were a good sign for the film, which opened nationwide on November 23rd.  

Rent, which is directed by Chris Columbus (who adapted Larson's book with Stephen Chbosky), is a Columbia Pictures/Revolution Studios production; it will be released by Sony Pictures. The original cast--Idina Menzel, Taye Diggs, Wilson Jermaine Heredia, Jesse L. Martin, Adam Pascal and Anthony Rapp--is intact but for Daphne Rubin-Vega and Fredi Walker; their respective roles of Mimi and Joanne will be played by Rosario Dawson and Tracie Thoms.
 
With its groundbreaking rock score by Larson and a story that captured the current of its generation, Rent is set in late-90's New York (updated in the film) in the East Village, where a group of artists love and live La Vie Boheme even under the shadow of poverty, failure, illness and death. The La Boheme-based show, which has been running at the Nederlander Theatre since its opening in 1996, won the Pultizer and the 1996 Tony Award for Best Musical, as well as 3 others. Tragically, Larson died a few months before the show opened. It has since run over 3,900 performances.

To learn more about the Rent film, visit Rent">www.sonypictures.com/movies/Rent.

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