only behind Air Force One (1997) and Interview with the Vampire (1994). The film's positive word of mouth and the sex appeal of Crowe helped with bringing in a female audience during its opening weekend, with a percentage of women buying tickets increasing from 35% on its opening day to 45% the following day. The film remained number one in its second weekend with $24.6 million, ahead of the debut of Battlefield Earth ($11.5 million). During its third weekend, Gladiator fell to second place with $19.7 million, behind the debut of Dinosaur ($38.5 million). By Memorial Day, it had already earned a total of $127.2 million, surpassing Erin Brockovich to become the highest-grossing film of the year. Gladiator did not regain its number one spot, but was in the top ten at the box office for a total of ten weeks. The film was in theaters for over a year and finished its theatrical run on May 10, 2001. Gladiator grossed $187.7 million in the United States and Canada, finishing as the fourth highest-grossing film of 2000 behind Mission: Impossible 2 ($215.4 million), Cast Away ($233.6 million), and How The Grinch Stole Christmas ($260 million). Outside of North America, Gladiator is estimated to have grossed over $272.9 million internationally. This gave the film a cumulative gross of over $460.6 million worldwide against a budget of $103 million. It was the second highest-grossing film of 2000 behind Mission: Impossible 2 ($546.4 million). At the time of its release, Gladiator was the fifth-highest-grossing R-rated film worldwide, behind Terminator 2: Judgment Day (1991), Saving Private Ryan (1998), The Matrix (1999), and Pretty Woman (1990). Due to an increase in ticket prices, 2000 set a new record of $7.7 billion at the domestic box office, exceeding the previous year's $7.31 billion. However, attendance for the year was estimated at a 2.5% decrease from last year. Industry executives blamed the decrease in attendance on the year's slate for its lack of commercial appeal that 1999's slate had, a lack of female-driven films and sleeper hits, as well as several exhibition chains filling for bankruptcy. Nevertheless, Gladiator was considered to be one of 2000's blockbusters due to strong world of mouth that contributed to its leggiest performance and helped generate more revenue for DreamWorks when it was setting new DVD release records during the fourth quarter of the year. With the strong performance of Gladiator, along