Box Office Tie, 'Cowboys' and 'Hollow Man'

Aug. 13 -- Astronauts and an invisible man were the big draw at the weekend box office, with Space Cowboys and Hollow Man sharing the top spot, according to studio estimates.

The surprising tie marks a strong showing for last week’s debut films, each taking in $13.1 million, although the numbers could shuffle when final figures are released tomorrow.

The Richard Gere,Winona Ryder romantic drama Autumn in New York survived critical skepticism to take in $11.5 million for a third place ranking.

In another near tie, for third place, the Keanu Reeves football flick The Replacements scored $11.1 million to debut in fourth.

‘Blockbuster Fatigue’ It was an unusual weekend, with no film dominating and the topseven movies bunched within a few million dollars.

Hanging on in the top 10 at No. 5 and 6 were Nutty Professor II: TheKlumps with $10.3 million and What Lies Beneath with $9.8million. The supernatural tale Bless the Child, starring KimBasinger and Jimmy Smits, premiered at No. 7 with $9.6 million.

August typically is a slow month for Hollywood. With summerwaning, films cluster together and post smaller grosses as“blockbuster fatigue sets in,” said Paul Dergarabedian, presidentof Exhibitor Relations, which tracks movie-ticket sales.

“This weekend was sort of a horse race. A slow horse race, butstill a horse race,” Dergarabedian said. “Unless you have filmslike Sixth Sense from last August that grab the nationalconsciousness, it’s tough to have any record-breaking grosses.”

Overall, the top 12 films grossed $97.7 million, down 13.7percent from last year and continuing a summer slump behind 1999’srecord summer revenues of $3 billion.

Warmer Than Expected Autumn Gere and Ryder’s romance attracted the best per-theater average amongwide-release films at $5,100 in 2,255 cinemas. That compared to$4,621 in 2,835 theaters for Space Cowboys and $4,432 in 2,956cinemas for Hollow Man.