Box Office: Audiences Still in Love With Wedding Planner

ByABC News
February 5, 2001, 1:42 PM

February 4 -- Audiences preferred matrimony to mayhem at the box office, as murderous new offerings from heartthrobs David Boreanaz and Freddie Prinze Jr. couldn't take down the slapstick romantic comedy The Wedding Planner.

For the second weekend in a row, audiences said "I do" to the Jennifer Lopez-Matthew McConaughey matrimonial match-up, to the tune of $11 million. After two weeks, The Wedding Planner has earned $28.2 million.

Boreanaz Twice as Popular as PrinzeMeanwhile, with a choice between two spiky-haired pinups who might be literal lady-killers, moviegoers preferred Boreanaz, of TV's Angel, to Prinze.

The bloody, R-rated Valentine, starring Boreanaz in his first leading film role, claimed the No. 2 slot with $10.1 million, while the PG-13-rated Head Over Heels, with Prinze as an ad exec who may be a murderer, opened in seventh place with only $5 million.

That's a personal worst for Prinze, far down from the $16 million debuts of I Still Know What You Did Last Summer and She's All That. Even the dud Wing Commander debuted with $5.1 million in 1999. That doesn't bode well for Prinze's next, Scooby-Doo, which also stars his real-life girlfriend, Sarah Michelle Gellar, and his Wing Commander co-star Matthew Lillard.

Cast Away, Crouching Tiger Still StrongRounding out the top five, Cast Away passed the $200 million mark over the weekend, adding an estimated $7.41 million to its coffers, just slightly ahead of fourth-placing Save the Last Dance, which posted $7.4 million, according to Paramount's reports.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon climbed into the fifth spot with $6.3 million, having expanded from 869 theaters to 1,163. After nine weeks, the Golden Globe-winning film has earned $53.5 million.

In limited release, the religious thriller Left Behind: The Movie, starring Growing Pains' Kirk Cameron, opened out of the Top 10 with $2.6 million.

The Top 10 films for Feb. 2-4, 2001:

The Wedding Planner, $11 millionValentine, $10.1 millionCast Away, $7.41 millionSave The Last Dance, $7.4 millionCrouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, $7.35 millionTraffic, $6.29 millionHead Over Heels, $5 millionFinding Forrester, $4.4 millionSnatch, $4.1 millionChocolat, $3.7 million