Box Office: Women, Dude K.O. Grinch
December 17 -- After five weeks, The Grinch finally took a tumble from the No. 1 spot, falling prey to the romantic charm of Mel Gibson and two very clueless slackers.
Gibson donning pantyhose, doing a little Fred Astaire-esque soft-shoe, and trying to figure out What Women Want proved to be exactly what audiences wanted over the weekend.
The Lethal Weapon star's first foray into romantic comedy (not including the 1990 dud Bird on a Wire) gave him his best box-office opening ever. Women debuted with an estimated $34.4 million, better than Ransom ($34.2 million), Lethal Weapon 4 ($34 million), Lethal Weapon 3 ($33.2 million), and Mel's summer offering, The Patriot ($22.4 million).
If the numbers hold up when final figures are released Monday, Women will also be the biggest December opening on record, topping Scream 2 ($32.9 million) and even Titanic ($28.6 million).
Dude's Sweet DebutMel wooing Helen Hunt wasn't the only big box-office story this weekend. The 20th Century Fox comedy Dude, Where's My Car? was not screened for critics but found its audience anyway, debuting in second place with a surprisingly sweet $14 million. Dude!
The two dimwitted protagonists are Seann William Scott and Ashton Kutcher, who don't stray far from the not-so-bright fellas they've already played in their short careers (Scott in Road Trip, Final Destination, and American Pie, and Kutcher in Fox's That '70s Show). Can you say, "Dude, where's my sequel?"
Grinch Beats GrooveIn third place was Dr. Seuss' How the Grinch Stole Christmas, with $13 million. It passed the $200 million mark over the weekend and now stands with $212.9 million. Even after being in theaters for five weeks, it still managed to top the new Disney animated offering, The Emperor's New Groove. The breezy Groove, which features the vocal talents of David Spade, John Goodman, and Patrick Warburton, opened with $10 million.
The critically acclaimed Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, playing now only in New York and Los Angeles, continued strong, with a whopping $35,484 per-screen average. That's slightly down from last week's $41,450 per-screen average, but it still gives the Ang Lee epic the best average in the country. By comparison, What Women Want's per-screen average was a still very impressive $11,421. After two weeks, Tiger has earned $2.2 million.
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