Weekend Box Office (January 5 - 7, 2001)

by Sujit Chawla

THIS WEEKEND With only one new film expanding into the marketplace, the box office from the first weekend of 2001 looked very similar to the final box office weekend of 2000. Overall the top 10 was down from last weekend's 4-day holiday totals, but with a number of new films opening and a number of critically praised films expanding next weekend, 2001 is shaping up to be quite an odyssey.

Retaining the box office crown for a third straight weekend was the Tom Hanks man-against-elements drama Cast Away. Washing ashore with $22.2M, according to final studio figures, the Academy hopeful film averaged $7,538 and hit the $141.7M mark in only 17 days. Down 28% from last weekend's three-day portion, the Hanks and Zemeckis green machine should see its grosses stay strong through the late winter and early spring months. Staying at number two for another week was What Women Want. The Mel Gibson comedy raked in another $15.6M bringing its cume to a thought-provoking $137.9M. While known more for his action-adventure flicks, Gibson has managed to find a role that brings out his comedic talents with great results.

The only major opening this weekend was the Steven Soderbergh-directed anti-drug movie, Traffic. The critically acclaimed film expanded this weekend into 1,510 theaters, pulling in an impressive $15.5M for a powerful $10,277 average, bringing its cume to $16M. USA Films smartly expanded the film on a weekend distributors traditionally don't open anything new. Having already won a handful of critical awards, expect Traffic to have a lengthy and profitable run through and past Oscar night in March.

Dropping one spot to number four this week, was the Sandra Bullock starrer Miss Congeniality. The Warner Brothers beauty pageant dropped a slender 11% from last weekend, bringing in $13M over the Friday-to-Sunday period. Its cume now stands at $65.4M. Rounding out the top five was the Nicolas Cage-Téa Leoni family film, The Family Man. The other Universal holiday pic (after The Grinch) added $9.1M to its cume, which now stands at $56.3M.

Coming in at number ten this weekend was the martial arts spectacular Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The Ang Lee-directed film had another outstanding weekend fighting and kicking its way to $3.4M from only 172 theaters, for a spectacular $19,816 average, easily the highest average in the top ten. Dropping out of the top ten after an amazing eight-week run was the highest grossing film of 2000, The Grinch. The Ron Howard/Jim Carrey film has now reached $257.8M.

In limited release news, the Kevin Costner cold war drama 13 Days registered $161,902, bringing its cume to $562,072. Currently showing in only 11 theaters, Days opens January 12th nationwide. Also expanding on the 12th into 1,800 theaters is Finding Forrester. This weekend Forrester brought in $2.2M. Its total now stands at $8.6M.

In international box office news, Disney won the overseas box office race for the year 2000 with $1.31 billion, led by Toy Story 2 ($210M), Dinosaur ($181M) and Gone in 60 Seconds ($129M). Sony came in a close second led by Stuart Little ($154M), Erin Brockovich ($131M), and Hollow Man ($117M). Fox rounds out the top three internationally, down 29% from last year led by X-Men ($137M), What Lies Beneath ($120M) and The Beach ($103M). Overall the international box office rang up around $6.4 billion, with final numbers still due out.

The top ten films grossed $99.5M which was up 34% from last year when Stuart Little claimed the top spot with $11.2M; and up 40% from 1999 when A Civil Action hit number one with $15.2M.

Take this week's NEW Reader Survey on next weekend's new releases. In last week's survey, readers were asked if they thought The Grinch would reach $300M in domestic grosses. Of 1,853 responses, 43% said yes while 57% voted no.

Read the NEW 2000 Box Office Review story. For reviews of Traffic, Cast Away, and What Women Want visit The Chief Report.

Be sure to check back on Thursday for a complete summary, including projections, for next weekend when Save the Last Dance, Antitrust, and Double Take all open.

Marketplace: Shop for videos, DVDs, music, books, and electronics at discounted prices using search engines

# Title Jan. 5 - 7 Dec. 29 - 31 % Chg. Theaters Weeks AVG Cumulative Dist.
1 Cast Away $ 22,220,725 $ 30,977,869 -28.3 2,948 3 $ 7,538 $ 141,702,072 Fox
2 What Women Want 15,555,033 20,834,205 -25.3 3,052 4 5,097 137,897,386 Paramount
3 Traffic 15,517,549 1,510 2 10,277 16,041,218 USA Films
4 Miss Congeniality 13,021,316 14,579,113 -10.7 2,668 3 4,881 65,376,566 Warner Bros.
5 The Family Man 9,121,855 12,771,990 -28.6 2,410 3 3,785 56,252,235 Universal
6 The Emperor's New Groove 7,462,207 11,319,523 -34.1 2,774 4 2,690 62,400,374 Buena Vista
7 Vertical Limit 5,010,353 6,120,758 -18.1 2,602 5 1,926 59,275,373 Sony
8 Dracula 2000 4,310,742 5,354,847 -19.5 2,204 3 1,956 28,136,273 Miramax
9 Dude, Where's My Car? 3,832,533 4,351,766 -11.9 2,004 4 1,912 41,385,958 Fox
10 Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon 3,408,397 3,240,647 5.2 172 5 19,816 18,496,108 Sony Classics
11 How The Grinch Stole Christmas 2,503,210 7,286,100 -65.6 2,594 8 965 257,830,325 Universal
12 All the Pretty Horses 2,477,053 3,464,058 -28.5 1,593 2 1,555 12,815,784 Miramax
13 Finding Forrester 2,212,810 2,176,226 1.7 200 3 11,064 8,565,522 Sony
14 102 Dalmatians 1,630,491 2,693,610 -39.5 1,474 6 1,106 61,175,547 Buena Vista
15 Chocolat 1,538,146 1,379,245 11.5 260 4 5,916 6,441,900 Miramax
16 O Brother, Where Art Thou? 1,392,926 1,161,626 19.9 165 3 8,442 3,805,138 Buena Vista
17 Unbreakable 1,303,536 1,578,464 -17.4 1,106 6 1,179 92,009,544 Buena Vista
18 Proof of Life 1,265,614 2,412,860 -47.5 1,381 4 916 31,193,043 Warner Bros.
19 Rugrats in Paris 1,059,301 2,183,023 -51.5 1,308 7 810 73,068,712 Paramount
20 Quills 615,595 613,295 0.4 223 7 2,761 4,284,664 Fox Searchlight
Top 5 $ 75,436,478 $ 90,482,700 -16.6
Top 10 99,460,710 117,060,229 -15.0
Top 20 115,459,392 135,099,520 -14.5
Top 20 vs. 2000 115,459,392 94,329,432 22.4

Last Updated : January 8 at 8:30PM EST