Memorial Day weekend in the US marks the official start of the summer, and it's an even bigger moment for the movie industry since over 25M tickets are sold over the 4 days. This year, records fell as X 3, The Last Stand (2006) beat all expectations taking in a record $45.1 million on Friday and continued over the weekend earning $102.8 million over three days and $122.9 million over four. This is the fifth movie in history to make break $100M in only 3 days, and the new record holder for teh 4-day Memorial Day weekend previously held by Jurassic Park 2, The Lost World (1997) with $92.7 million back in 1997 and more recently, Shrek 2 (2004) at $96.9 million in 2004. The reviews however are mixed, the the numbers have declined steadily each day from Friday through Monday, so although the movie's chances of breaking $200M are close to 100%, this kind of initial weekend suggest beating $300M which does sounds jeopardized if the movie doesn't show even average legs.

Da Vinci Code, The (2006), which also broke a number of records when it opened last week, fell further than expected with "only" $34M over 3 days, and $42.4M over 4. The movie will pass the $150M bar during the week, and worldwide, the movie has already broken the $500M mark. It's a marked sucess by any measure.

Over The Hedge (2006) and Mission: Impossible 3 (2006) however both did better than expected with $27.1M and $7M respectively. Over The Hedge is tracking well as a family movie and will break $100M in teh next week, and may have a chance to get really close to $150M. If it does, it will make a profit domestically before raking in a lot more money when the DVD comes out. For Mission Impossible, the film is a disappointment overall, but will make enough money to allow it to make a profit as soon as it's available for the home market.