George Clooney "Storms" Box Office

L O S &nbsp A N G E L E S, July 2 — -- George Clooney’s The Perfect Storm blewMel Gibson out of the water at the box office over the weekend.

The movie, based on the true story of a fishing crew battling abehemoth tempest, took in $41.7 million to debut at No. 1 at theweekend box office, according to studio estimates today.

The movie’s gross almost doubled that of Mel Gibson’sRevolutionary War spectacle The Patriot, which took in $21.7million Friday to Sunday to finish at No. 2. The animated adventureChicken Run, featuring Gibson’s voice, came in at No. 3 with$12.8 million.

The weekend’s other big release, The Adventures of Rocky andBullwinkle, opened to a disappointing $6.6 million for fifthplace.

Box Office Rebound

The overall box office was good news for Hollywood. After threeslumping weekends that put the industry behind last summer’s recordrevenues, the top 12 films this weekend grossed $121.8 million, up5.3 percent over the same period in 1999.

There also was a prospect that for the five-day weekend throughTuesday, the industry could approach the $198.3 million Fourth ofJuly record set in 1996, when Independence Day opened.

With three big movies premiering, the Fourth of July had beenviewed as the pivotal weekend for Hollywood’s summer season, whenstudios rake in about 40 percent of their revenue.

As late as last week, industry observers figured the box-officecrown would be a tossup between The Perfect Storm and ThePatriot.

“I’m surprised by the disparity between the grosses forPerfect Storm and Patriot, ” said Paul Dergarabedian, presidentof Exhibitor Relations, which tracks movie-ticket sales. “I didn’tthink there would be that wide of a gap.”

The Patriot may have been hurt by its R rating and 2:40 running time, half-an-hour longer than The PerfectStorm, rated PG-13. As a period piece, The Patriot also had atough battle against the digital wizardry that created the strikingwave action in The Perfect Storm.