Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me grossed $54.9 million this past weekend. That's more money in just three days than the original made in its entire run. The last sequel to perform like this was Terminator 2: Judgment Day, which took four days to out gross the original.

Not only did Austin Powers have the third biggest opening of all time, it trounced The Waterboy's comedy opening weekend record by a whopping $15.5 million. It also beat Batman Forever to become the biggest June opening ever.

Even if it does fade fast, its performance is still amazing for a sequel. And with a production cost of $33 million and a $40 million marketing campaign, the picture will likely see some profit from its domestic theatrical release alone.

As far as overall box office was concerned, Austin Powers did not merely take a bigger piece of the box office pie. It made the pie grow. Box office grew 38% over last weekend and about 33% over the same time last year. The other pictures held up well, as if it were just a normal weekend. Most notably was The Phantom Menace, which dropped just 22% to $25.6 million. That's quite the leggy hold and suggests that it will easily finish in its predicted $400 million range.

Editor's Note: Articles published before 2001 were assigned and reported as box office briefings, not a full evaluation or analysis.