A Huge Launch for ‘Titanic’

The ship may have gone down, but the movie is blasting full speed ahead in its maiden voyage. James Cameron’s epic “Titanic” grossed an estimated $27.6 million, edging out the new James Bond movie to gain the top berth at the box office.

“Titanic’s” three-hour-plus running time limited it to three showings a day on 2,674 screens. An extra evening screening could have added as much as $12 million to that total. As it is, “Titanic” represents the second-largest December opening ever--after “Scream 2”--with “Tomorrow Never Dies” the third-largest, with $26 million.

John Krier, president of Exhibitor Relations, a company that tracks box-office receipts, said, “It’s unusual for two films to do that kind of business in the same week, especially when they’re opening against each other.” The weekend business was up about 10% over the same weekend last year.

Rob Friedman, vice chairman of Paramount’s motion picture group, said the big question is if the $200-million “Titanic” can make its money back. Based on the box-office results and how the film is playing overseas (it’s been released in a few markets including Hong Kong, Australia and South Africa), he said, “The answer is yes, and then some.”

“Tomorrow Never Dies,” the 18th installment in the Bond series, was made by United Artists and distributed by MGM. Its $26-million gross puts it on pace with “GoldenEye.” That 1995 movie, which was the first to star Pierce Brosnan as Bond, took in $26.2 million on its opening weekend--the most in Bond movie history--and went on to gross $106 million domestically and $350 million worldwide.

“There’s plenty of life in the old guy yet,” said Larry Gleason, president of worldwide distribution for MGM.

The high numbers for “Tomorrow Never Dies” and “Titanic” bode well for the box office in general, Gleason said, with record numbers of moviegoers turning out and Christmas and New Year’s coming up.

Indeed, at the AMC 14 in Burbank, ticket-holders lined up an hour early to get a seat at the sold-out 8:30 showing of “Titanic” Friday night. Martin Kieley, 42, and Sheri Kieley, 39, had heard a lot about it and were curious what $200 million would buy.

“You really found yourself amazed at the special effects and cringing when the people slammed into the propellers [when they fell off the boat],” Sheri Kieley said after the movie.

Adam Sheffield, 21, was there with three friends who were more gung-ho than he. “I’m just hoping it’s not too sappy,” Sheffield said before the film started. “It looks like it could be a real sap-fest.”

He was more positive when the group emerged from the theater three hours later chatting about the scene in which the Titanic is sinking and passengers are falling off the sides, several stories, into the cold, dark water.

“Definitely worth it,” Sheffield said. “The first half got a little carried away with the romance thing but the second half, once the ship hit that iceberg, was pretty awesome.”

Craig Tierney, 25, however, thought Leonardo DiCaprio overacted and that the romance was overblown. “I’ve seen that stuff a million times,” he said. “They should have just stuck to the boat and the iceberg. That was cool stuff. The hype about the special effects was well-deserved. They saved the movie.”

Miramax/Dimension’s “Scream 2,” the week after its huge opening weekend, earned $14 million, nabbing third place. “Mouse Hunt,” the new family comedy from DreamWorks, was fourth with $6.3 million.

The family film market was a little crowded, with Disney’s No. 5 “Flubber” still in theaters, grossing $4.1 million. Fox’s “Home Alone 3” was 8th with $3.25 million, and its “Anastasia” was No. 9 with $1.7 million.

DreamWorks’ “Amistad,” now in 480 theaters, took in $3.3 million, and has made $9.7 million so far. The slow roll-out has been designed to generate word of mouth, but the film will be in 725 theaters on Christmas and more than 1,000 in January.

“Amistad” tied for sixth place with “For Richer or Poorer,” Universal’s Tim Allen comedy, which also grossed $3.3 million in its second week. “John Grisham’s The Rainmaker,” from Paramount, is still hanging in the Top 10 after five weeks in release, with $1.4 million and $41.6 million to date.

All figures are estimates based on Friday and Saturday’s returns. Final numbers will be released today.

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Times special correspondent Tom Becker contributed to this story.