Box Office: 'Bring It On' Is Return Champ
Sept. 4 -- Cheers and fears may run rampant in the current slate of Top 10 movies, butperhaps the scariest box office news is that there’s nothing for filmcompanies to shout about.
This summer is a weak one, with no Sixth Sense or PhantomMenace to drive ticket sales. For the sixth weekend in a row, box officesales slumped 16 percent compared to the same period last year.
Box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co., Inc. reported that betweenthe Memorial Day and Labor Day holiday weekends, moviegoers have shelled outapproximately $2.75 billion. That's a figure second only to last year, arecord-breaking box office summer. But rising ticket prices could mean thereare actually fewer bodies in theaters, Exhibitor Relations president PaulDergarabedian told the Associated Press.
Cheer to Stay
A bright spot in the charts is the teen cheerleader comedy Bring It On, which cartwheeled into the No. 1 slot its secondconsecutive weekend. The Kirsten Dunst rally vehicle made $14.5 million inthe four-day holiday period, according to box office estimates issuedMonday.
Bring It On's total was down 35 percent from last weekend, but nomatter — with lukewarm turns from two new releases (Whipped and Highlander: Endgame), it easily conquered thecompetition.
Immortal Life, MortalDraw
The fourth film in the Highlander franchise managed to debut at No. 5 with a decentfour-day haul of $6.4 million. Christopher Lambert recapped his role as asword-fighting immortal in the cult series, keeping Highlander:Endgame on par with the performance of other segments in the sci-fiseries. Highlander III summoned $5.6 million its opening weekend in1995.
The universally panned Whipped was just that, failing to crack theTop 10 with a limp $2.7 million estimated gross for the Friday-to-Mondayperiod. Amanda Peet, who received her first lead billing in the new sexcomedy, proved she still needs a solid ensemble cast to draw crowds. Herlast movie, The Whole Nine Yards, received $13.7 million when itbowed in February — with name actor Bruce Willis and Friends sourpussMatthew Perry at the center of the film's marketing campaign.
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