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'Hardball' Holds On To No. 1
Monday, September 24, 2001 12:51 PM EDT
Movie ticket sales plunged over the weekend, and analysts blamed a dearth of new films, the telethon that kept many viewers home Friday night - as well as continued jitters over the recent terrorist attacks.
"Hardball" remained the nation's No. 1 movie. The Little League drama starring Keanu Reeves took in $8.2 million in its second weekend of release for a total of $19.4 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Overall, estimated weekend ticket sales for the top dozen films was $44.2 million, a 15 percent drop from last weekend and about 7 percent lower than the same weekend a year ago. It was the worst weekend for studios since Sept. 15, 2000.
"It's disappointing," said Bruce Snyder, president of domestic distribution for 20th Century Fox, said of the opening. "With the climate in this country, I don't think I know quite what's going on."
Last weekend, the first weekend after the attacks, business was very strong: returns were about 42 percent higher at than the same time last year, $54.1 million compared to $37.8 million.
However, there were a slate of new movies opening last week. This week, Mariah Carey's "Glitter", which stars the singing superstar as a pop diva on the rise, was the only new movie to open in wide release. It was panned by critics and made a paltry $2.5 million, failing to register in the Top 10.
Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations, said jitters from the recent terrorist attacks, the lack of new movies and the Friday night celebrity television telethon kept movie audiences away. Nearly 60 million Americans watched the telethon benefitting victims of the attacks.
"There were more stars in that than in any film in the marketplace," Dergarabedian said.
"The Others" a supernatural thriller starring Nicole Kidman, was the No. 2 movie with $5.2 million. The movie, in its seventh week of release, climbed the charts from the No. 5 spot last week. It has made $80.2 million and was the only movie in the top 10 whose receipts rose over the weekend.
"This is obviously an indication it is a word-of-mouth favorite," said David Kaminow, senior vice president of marketing for Miramax.
"Rush Hour 2" starring Jackie Chan, was in its eighth week on the Top 10 list and has amassed nearly $216 million.
Among other openers, "Megiddo: The Omega Code 2" was the No. 13 movie, making $1.5 million. The biblical thriller topped all films with average of $4,800 in sales for each of its 314 screens.
Final figures are to be released Monday.
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