‘A Time to Kill’ Ambushes ‘ID4’ for Second Weekend

The legal/racial drama “A Time To Kill” held off summer blockbuster “Independence Day” at the nation’s box office for the second straight weekend, according to industry estimates.

The film adaptation of John Grisham’s “A Time to Kill” brought in about $13 million from Friday to Sunday for $41.2 million in its 12-day run. “Independence Day” captured $10.8 million, bringing its total since July 2 to $241.6 million.

The surprise, however, was Columbia’s “Matilda,” which opened third with $8.5 million, knocking another new release, the Keanu Reeves action thriller “Chain Reaction,” to fourth with $7.5 million.

Jeff Blake, Columbia’s head of distribution, said “Matilda,” directed by and starring Danny DeVito, benefited from its origins as a Roald Dahl book as well as a shift in release date.

“We actually planned to open this a week later, but when ‘Jack’ moved up a week, we decided to take advantage of this week,” he said. “It worked.”

“Matilda’s” opening was a sweet surprise for Columbia, whose summer star-driven films “Multiplicity,” “Striptease” and “The Cable Guy” have been disappointments.

It surpassed the debuts of such recent children’s fare as “Harriet the Spy” ($6.6 million), “Kazaam” ($5 million) and “The Adventures of Pinocchio” ($3.8 million).

“ ‘Matilda’ did pretty well considering Sunday was the closing ceremony of the Olympics, which will flatten the box office a bit,” said John Krier, head of the box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations.

The rest of the top 10 consisted of “Phenomenon” ($5.1 million ); “Kingpin” ($4.75 million); “Courage Under Fire ($4.5 million ); “The Nutty Professor” ($4.1 million ); “Supercop” ($2.24 million); and “Multiplicity” ($2 million). Final numbers will be released today.