'Ocean's Eleven' dominates US box office

HOLLYWOOD, Dec. 9 (UPI) -- "Ocean's Eleven," the star-packed remake of the 1960 casino caper, hit the jackpot at the nation's box office with an estimated $39.4 million at 3,075 theaters during the Friday-Sunday period, studio sources said Sunday.

Warner Bros.' opening of "Eleven" performed in line with expectations following a massive marketing campaign that took full advantage of the drawing power of George Clooney, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Brad Pitt and Julia Roberts.

The stars took lower-than-usual salaries in order to work with director Stephen Soderbergh, who oversaw a pair of critically acclaimed hits last year with "Erin Brockovich" and "Traffic" last year.

Reviews were mixed for "Eleven," which involved Clooney's character Danny Ocean organizing a $150 million robbery of three casinos in an updating of the original, which saw Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, Sammy Davis Jr. and Peter Lawford staged an $11 million robbery of five casinos.

"It's a very respectable opening," said analyst Arthur Rockwell of Rockwell Capital Management. "The marketing campaign was pretty well done in that it got customers interested in the movie."

Rockwell also said "Eleven" has a decent shot at leading the slate next weekend when it faces competition from openings of Paramount's Tom Cruise mystery-drama "Vanilla Sky" and Sony's spoof "Not Another Teen Movie."

"It's a little hard to tell how well 'Vanilla Sky' will do at this point because it's a bit hard to define what it's about," Rockwell said. "'Ocean's Eleven' is probably not going to be a blockbuster but it's likely to have decent numbers for the rest of the year just because there's such a high level of moviegoing."

Finishing a distant but respectable second was the fourth weekend of "Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone" with $14.8 million at 3,675 theaters. The mega-hit lost 37 percent of its third-weekend total and has grossed $239.7 million in 24 days, making it the 21st highest domestic performer of all time ahead of "Ghostbusters."

"The numbers for 'Harry Potter' are still pretty good," Rockwell said. "It still has some legs because of the must-see factor that has been created for this film."

Rockwell also noted that Warner has shown an adept touch in the back-to-back marketing of "Ocean's Eleven" and "Harry Potter."

With the top two films taking in over $54 million, overall business was solid with the top 10 grossing around $83 million. That was nearly $10 million ahead of the same weekend last year when "How The Grinch Stole Christmas" led with $18.6 million, followed by "Vertical Limit" with $15.5 million.

Year-to-date business is near $7.4 billion, up 9 percent over last year at this point. New Line's "Lord of the Rings" and Sony's "Ali" are expected to generate strong business later this month.

20th Century Fox's second weekend of "Behind Enemy Lines" finished third with a disappointing $8.1 million at 2,844 theaters as the military drama lost 56 percent from its opening weekend. "Lines" has taken in $31.2 million in 10 days.

Disney's sixth weekend of "Monsters Inc." continued to show solid performance with $6.7 million at 2,884 theaters as the computer-animated comedy dropped only 26 percent from its fifth weekend. "Monsters" has now grossed $212.5 million over its first 38 days, leaving it in 32nd place all time ahead of "Back to the Future," and looks likely to remain a potent draw for several more weeks.

Universal's third weekend of "Spy Game" came in fifth with a lukewarm $4.6 million at 2,770 theaters as the thriller continued to outperform Fox's "Black Knight" with $3.3 million at 2,223 sites. "Spy Game" has taken in $54.1 million in 19 days while "Black Knight" has $27.2 million in the same period.

Fox's fifth weekend of "Shallow Hal" followed in seventh with $2.6 million at 2,218 sites to reach nearly $65 million in 38 days. Disney's third weekend of snowboarder comedy "Out Cold" continued to generate little box office heat in eighth with $1.4 million at 1,651 locations to give it $12.3 million in 19 days.

Miramax's art-house hit "Amelie" came in ninth with $1.1 million at 221 theaters in its sixth weekend to edge Paramount's sixth weekend of "Domestic Disturbance" with $950,000 at 1,471 theaters. New Line's sixth weekend of "Life As a House" was a distant 11th with $625,000 at 1,068 theaters.