UNIVERSAL PICTURES' DRAMA 'JARHEAD' BRINGS IN 27.7 MILLION AT THE DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE

UNIVERSAL PICTURES' DRAMA 'JARHEAD' BRINGS IN 27.7 MILLION AT THE DOMESTIC BOX OFFICE

UNIVERSAL CITY, Calif., Nov. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Universal Pictures' drama "Jarhead," directed by Academy Award(R)-winning filmmaker Sam Mendes, took in 27.7 million in 2,411 theaters this past weekend at the domestic box office. Proving audiences were craving quality drama, the adaptation of Marine Anthony Swofford's bracing memoir of his disorienting firsthand experience in the Gulf War took second place in theaters with a strong per-screen average of $11,500. The film stars Jake Gyllenhaal, Jamie Foxx and Peter Sarsgaard and is produced by Douglas Wick and Lucy Fisher.

"Jarhead" (the self-imposed moniker of the Marines) follows "Swoff" (Gyllenhaal), a third-generation enlistee, from a sobering stint in boot camp to active duty, sporting a sniper's rifle and a hundred-pound ruck on his back through Middle East deserts with no cover from intolerable heat or from Iraqi soldiers, always potentially just over the next horizon. Swoff and his fellow Marines sustain themselves with sardonic humanity and wicked comedy on blazing desert fields in a country they don't understand against an enemy they can't see for a cause they don't fully fathom.

"'Jarhead' has proven not only to be popular with audiences, but a provocative conversation-starter. It's the kind of film that makes people stay in the lobby of theaters after they've seen it, discussing and debating. When Lucy Fisher and Doug Wick brought us 'Jarhead,' Universal jumped at the chance to make something we thought could be entertaining and involving," notes Nikki Rocco, president, distribution, Universal Pictures. "Sam Mendes fulfilled the promise of the material, and we are so happy that American audiences came in such strong numbers on our opening weekend."

Jake Gyllenhaal ("The Day After Tomorrow," "Moonlight Mile"), Jamie Foxx ("Ray," "Collateral") and Peter Sarsgaard ("Kinsey," "Boys Don't Cry") star in Jarhead, directed by Academy Award(R) winner Sam Mendes ("American Beauty," "Road to Perdition") and the producers are Oscar(R) winner Douglas Wick ("Gladiator") and Lucy Fisher (upcoming "Memoirs of a Geisha"), partners in Red Wagon Entertainment. The screenplay is by William Broyles, Jr. ("Cast Away," "Apollo 13").

Foxx portrays Sergeant Sykes, a Marine lifer who heads up Swofford's scout/sniper platoon, while Sarsgaard is Swoff's friend and mentor, Troy, a die-hard member of STA-their elite Marine Unit.

An irreverent and true account of a war that was antiseptically packaged a decade ago, Jarhead is laced with dark wit, honest inquisition and episodes that are at once surreal and poignant, tragic and absurd.

Universal Pictures is a division of Universal Studios (www.universalstudios.com). Universal Studios is part of NBC Universal, one of the world's leading media and entertainment companies in the development, production, and marketing of entertainment, news, and information to a global audience. Formed in May 2004 through the combining of NBC and Vivendi Universal Entertainment, NBC Universal owns and operates a valuable portfolio of news and entertainment networks, a premier motion picture company, significant television production operations, a leading television stations group, and world-renowned theme parks. NBC Universal is 80%-owned by General Electric, with 20% controlled by Vivendi Universal.

Source: Universal Pictures

CONTACT: Michael Moses, +1-818-777-5926, or Jeff Sakson,
+1-818-777-4791, both of Universal Pictures

Web site: http://www.universalstudios.com/

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