‘I Know What You Did’ Corners the Box Office

Three new movies in national release, including Richard Gere’s Chinese drama “Red Corner,” failed to dislodge “I Know What You Did Last Summer” from atop the box-office charts.

The slasher film from Sony/Columbia was No. 1 for the third consecutive week, with $10 million in ticket sales, according to industry estimates Sunday. It is the first film since the summer blockbuster “Men in Black” to rank first for three straight weekends.

“I really think there’s a change in America’s film taste,” said Dave Davis, an entertainment industry analyst with the investment bank Houlihan Lokey. “If you put these young television icons in thriller situations, the movies seem to do very well. It’s a new niche.” The film co-stars Jennifer Love Hewitt of “Party of Five” and Sarah Michelle Gellar of “Buffy, the Vampire Slayer.”

Of the new entries in wide release, MGM’s “Red Corner,” starring Gere as an American businessman railroaded by China’s criminal justice system, fared the best. It opened in second place with an estimated gross of $8.3 million, ahead of Warner Bros.’ thriller “The Devil’s Advocate,” starring Al Pacino, at $7.6 million.

New Line Cinema’s “Boogie Nights,” a look at the adult film industry in 1970s Los Angeles, moved into national release after playing in selected cities for two weeks. It landed in fourth, with an estimated gross of $5.1 million.

“The film has performed phenomenally well, especially when you consider that we’re in half the theaters of ‘I Know What You Did Last Summer,’ ” said New Line spokesman Steve Elzer.

The rest of the Top 10, based on estimates from Friday through Sunday for movies released in North America: Paramount Pictures’ “Kiss the Girls,” in fifth, with $3.6 million; Sony/TriStar’s “Seven Years in Tibet,” $3.4 million; Paramount’s “SwitchBack,” $3 million; Paramount’s “Fairy Tale--A True Story,” $2.9 million; Columbia’s “Gattaca,” $2.7 million; and Paramount’s “In & Out,” $1.8 million.

Final weekend box-office figures are to be released today.