Box Office: Bring It On Is Return Champ
September 4, 2000 -- Cheers and fears may run rampant in the current slate of top 10 movies, but perhaps the scariest box-office news is that there's nothing for film companies to shout about.
This summer is a weak one, with no Sixth Sense or Star Wars: Episode I — The Phantom Menace to drive ticket sales. For the sixth weekend in a row, box-office sales slumped by 16 percent compared to the same period last year.
Box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co. reported that between the Memorial Day and Labor Day holiday weekends, moviegoers have shelled out approximately $2.75 billion on tickets. That's a figure second only to last year's record-breaking summer box-office numbers. But rising ticket prices could mean that there are actually fewer bodies in theaters, Exhibitor Relations President Paul Dergarabedian told the Associated Press.
Cheer to StayA bright spot in the charts is the teen cheerleader comedy Bring It On, which cartwheeled into the No. 1 slot for its second consecutive weekend. The Kirsten Dunst rally vehicle made $14.5 million in the four-day holiday period, according to box-office estimates issued Monday.
Bring It On's total was down 35 percent from last weekend, but no matter — with lukewarm turns from two new releases (Whipped and Highlander: Endgame), it easily conquered the competition.
Immortal Life, Mortal DrawThe fourth film in the Highlander franchise managed to debut at No. 5 with a decent four-day haul of $6.4 million. Christopher Lambert recapped his role as a sword-fighting immortal in the cult series, keeping Highlander: Endgame on par with the performance of its predecessors. Highlander III summoned $5.6 million during its opening weekend in 1995.
The universally panned Whipped was just that, failing to crack the Top 10 with a limp $2.7 million estimated gross for the Friday-to-Monday period. Amanda Peet, who received her first lead billing in the new sex comedy, proved that she still needs a solid ensemble cast to draw crowds. Her last movie, The Whole Nine Yards, received $13.7 million when it bowed in February — with name actor Bruce Willis and Friends sourpuss Matthew Perry at the center of the film's marketing campaign.
Age Before Beauty? Not HereJennifer Lopez's psychological thriller, The Cell, was No. 2 with $9.1 million in its third weekend. Actor-director-producer Clint Eastwood's flick about aging astronauts, Space Cowboys, was third with a four-day tally of $8.3 million. Cowboys' total now stands at a solid $74.2 million.
Both The Cell and Cowboys rose one place, as Wesley Snipes' The Art of War slipped two places to No. 4, with $7.6 million in its second weekend.
Bathtub BankrollMichelle Pfeiffer and Harrison Ford's ghostly What Lies Beneath remained in sixth place with $6.2 million after seven weeks. Why are crowds still drawn to the frightening flick? Maybe they enjoy seeing Ford portray a villain, rather than a do-gooder patriot.
"There comes a point when you've exhausted your opportunities playing good guys," the veteran actor recently told Mr. Showbiz. "And a script comes along when all the current impressions people have of you and what you can do can be turned on its ear. … For me it was an exciting opportunity to play this character."
The Top 10 films for Sept. 1-4, 2000:
1. Bring It On, $14.5 million2. The Cell, $9.1 million3. Space Cowboys, $8.3 million 4. The Art of War, $7.6 million5. Highlander: Endgame, $6.4 million6. What Lies Beneath, $6.2 million7. The Original Kings of Comedy, $5.9 million8. The Replacements, $4.4 million9. Nutty Professor II: The Klumps, $3.8 million10. The Crew, $3.6 million
Final figures will be released Tuesday.
Reuters contributed to this story.