'Rings' dominates US box office

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 30 (UPI) -- "Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring" easily won the nation's post-Christmas weekend box office with an estimated $37.4 million at 3,359 theaters during the Friday-Sunday period, studio sources said Sunday.

"Lord of the Rings" lost only 21 percent of its $47.4 million opening weekend and has now taken in an impressive $154.5 million in its first dozen days for New Line. It already ranks as the 83rd highest domestic grosser, topping "Who Framed Roger Rabbit."

"'Lord of the Rings' has turned out to have a wide appeal with possibly even more cross-over business than 'Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone,'" said movie analyst Arthur Rockwell of Rockwell Capital Management.

The solid performance by "Rings" helped fuel healthy overall business with six films taking more than $11 million and all top 10 films drawing over $5.6 million each. The top 10's combined gross was about $137 million, pushing the 2001 total past $7.9 billion or about 9 percent ahead of last year's figure.

Many box office trackers had expected "Lord of the Rings" to face a strong challenge from Sony's "Ali," which opened Christmas Day with $10.2 million, just $1.4 million behind "Rings" figure on the same day. Instead, "Ali" finished a distant third with $15.3 million at 2,446 sites, coming in behind Warner's fourth weekend of "Ocean's Eleven" with $17.4 million at 3,075 theaters.

A Sony spokesman said "Ali," which has totaled $35.3 million in six days, was generating strong audience support. Rockwell noted, "'Ali' is a difficult film to market, given the relatively limited audience for boxing. It's obviously not a failure but it does not seem like a film that's going to have a lot of mass appeal."

Paramount's second weekend of "Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius" came in a close fourth with $15 million at 3,151 locations as the Nickelodeon cartoon topped $42 million after 10 days. The animated comedy, which had a relatively low cost of $15 million, has already become solidly profitable.

"'Jimmy Neutron' has a huge built-in audience so Paramount is smart to take advantage of the synergy of being affiliated with Nickelodeon," Rockwell said.

Paramount's third weekend of "Vanilla Sky" followed in fifth with $11.5 million at 2,744 sites with only a 5 percent decline. "Sky," starring Tom Cruise, has topped $66 million in 17 days.

"The performance by 'Vanilla Sky,' which is a hard to classify movie, is a tribute to the drawing power of Tom Cruise," Rockwell said.

Finishing a still-impressive sixth was the seventh weekend of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" with $11.46 million at 3,186 theaters. The blockbuster showed it still has significant drawing power as it posted a 65 percent jump from its sixth-weekend total of $7.1 million.

"Harry Potter" has grossed $286.1 million in 45 days, making it the 12th highest domestic performer of all time ahead of "Home Alone" at $285.8 million.

Miramax's opening weekend of "Kate & Leopold," a time-travel romance with Meg Ryan and Hugh Jackman, came in seventh with a moderate $9.5 million at 2,452 theaters to bring its total to $17.1 million in six days. Rockwell said the premise, with Ryan's modern-day scientist meeting up with Jackman's 19th Century nobleman, may have been too far-fetched for audiences to support in large numbers.

"The story idea for 'Kate & Leopold' seems a little forced," he noted.

Universal's widened release of "A Beautiful Mind," with Russell Crowe playing a tormented genius, followed in eighth with $7.2 million at 525 theaters with the studio reporting strong audience support.

Disney's ninth weekend of "Monsters Inc." followed with a still-solid $6.5 million at 2,097 theaters as the comedy nearly doubled its $3.8 million total from the previous weekend. "Monsters" has now taken in $236.3 million and ranks 23rd place on the all-time list ahead of "Beverly Hills Cop."

Warner's second weekend of "The Majestic" finished 10th with $5.6 million at 2,361 theaters as the romance drama continued posting lukewarm numbers despite the star power of Jim Carrey. "The Majestic" has totaled only $15.8 million in 10 days.

Underscoring the weekend's powerful performance, a pair of films finished out of the top 10 despite taking in over $5 million -- Fox's second weekend of "Joe Somebody" with $5.58 million at 2,516 theaters and Universal's second weekend of "How High" with $5.2 million at 1,271 sites.

Studios also reported healthy grosses for half a dozen films in limited release, all targeted at contending for Academy Awards by opening prior to the end of the year. They included Miramax's "The Shipping News" with $1.2 million at 186 theaters; Sony's "Black Hawk Down," a re-creation of 1993's battle between American and Somalian troops, with $182,000 at four theaters; USA Films' murder mystery "Gosford Park" with $241,000 at nine sites; Lions Gate's drama "Monster's Ball" with $107,000 at five screens; New Line's drama "I Am Sam" with $36,000 at two theaters; and Warner's mystery "Charlotte Gray" with $35,000 at five locations.

"Lord of the Rings" will likely lead the first weekend of 2002 with moviegoing expected to return to moderate levels. Miramax's science-fiction adventure "The Imposter," with Gary Sinise, is the only film set for wide release.