‘Stella’ Grooves in Its Debut, but ‘Ryan’ Saves No. 1 Spot

Though she’s not technically No. 1, “How Stella Got Her Groove Back,” starring Angela Bassett, won the weekend in other ways. In only 1,393 theaters (about half as many houses as first-place “Saving Private Ryan”), “Stella” grossed an estimated $11.8 million in its first three days, just $1 million less than the leader. “Stella’s” per-screen tally of $8,500 per theater was significantly higher than any other film’s in general release.

The rest of the weekend’s new arrivals didn’t fare as well. No doubt benefiting from the absence of reviews (there were no screenings for critics, always a bad omen) was “The Avengers,” starring Uma Thurman and Ralph Fiennes, a $60-million feature-film version of the cult ‘60s TV series. It brought out the curious in its first weekend, collecting almost $10.8 million in 2,466 theaters, a fair average of about $4,300 per theater.

The two other new arrivals fared worse--much worse--not even cracking the top 12. For those who wondered why Disney did not release the sequel to its popular “Air Bud” itself, instead handing it over to Miramax, the estimated $2.5 million, 13th-place opening-weekend gross in 1,669 theaters for “Air Bud 2: Golden Receiver” is some indication of the film’s true bow-wow potential. The up-for-sale Polygram film division valiantly attempted to lure viewers to “Return to Paradise,” a drama starring Vince Vaughn and Anne Heche. But despite some respectful reviews, “Paradise” went straight in the opposite direction for a 14th-place debut of about $2.4 million in 965 theaters. Talk about paradise lost.

“Stella,” however, delivered powerfully on its demographic of African American women, managing to do comparable debut business to Fox’s “Soul Food” in 1997 and “Waiting to Exhale” in 1995, according to studio senior executive Tom Sherak. The very good news, however, is that the film also received high marks from African American males and white females, indicating that the older woman/younger man romance could break out beyond its core audience over time.

With two new films grossing more than $10 million and several other long-running films holding extremely well, business for the top 12 films was about 18% better than the comparable weekend last year, according to the industry tracking survey Exhibitor Relations.

In its fourth week in first place, “Private Ryan” is advancing rapidly toward what now looks to be an eventual cumulative gross of almost $200 million, with more than $125 million tallied so far and a steady-as-they-go 26% drop from last weekend to about $12.9 million. The film it has to beat is “Armageddon,” which, helped by a hit soundtrack, is experiencing a similar slow erosion pattern, dropping 23% in its seventh weekend for $4.1 million in 1,786 houses and $180 million already in the bank. Even if Ryan doesn’t surpass “Armageddon” this year, with Oscar recognition of some kind virtually assured, Spielberg’s war epic should eventually end up the victor, though there are no losers in this battle.

Speaking of winners, “There’s Something About Mary” appears to be a week away from hitting the $100-million mark with another minuscule drop (6%) in business over its fifth weekend to $9.1 million in 2,201 theaters and about $92 million to date. “Halloween H20” is behaving like a typical horror movie and not the “Scream” clone that Miramax (whose Dimension division is releasing the film) probably had hoped. Second-weekend sag was 48% to about $8.4 million in 2,669 theaters, indicating a rapid playoff that may only barely eclipse the 1978 original’s $55-million take. Thus far “H20” has taken in $40 million.

A similar fate has befallen Paramount’s thriller “Snake Eyes,” starring Nicolas Cage, which should have walked away from the table after its strong debut but remained in the casino to gamble away its lead with a frightening 47% drop in its second weekend, to about $8.7 million in 2,718 theaters. The 10-day total is just under $32 million.

“Ever After,” starring Drew Barrymore, took its first noticeable drop in business in its third weekend, and even that was well below average (21%) to $6.1 million in 2,058 theaters and a strong three-week total of about $34 million. “The Parent Trap” is also keeping pace and still attracting the young and boomers alike, for an estimated third-weekend total of $5.5 million in 2,407 theaters and more than $43 million in only three weeks.

“The Negotiator,” however, lost more than a third of its audience, having been battered by “Snake Eyes” last weekend and “The Avengers” this weekend. It dropped to $4.2 million in 2,032 theaters for a total of $32.5 million. Like “Out of Sight” earlier this summer, the taut suspense drama got lost amid the hoopla of higher visibility films such as “Armageddon” and even “The Mask of Zorro,” which just slipped out of the top 10, but still managed about $3.8 million over the weekend in 2,123 theaters. Total to date for “Zorro” is more than $78 million.

The weekend’s spirited independent film arrival, “The Slums of Beverly Hills,” opened in just seven theaters with an upscale $130,000, almost $19,000 per theater.

This week, the summer films just keep coming, with four more new ones due, including Wesley Snipes in the action thriller “Blade,” the dark comedy “Dead Man on Campus,” the romantic “Dance With Me,” starring Vanessa L. Williams, and “Wrongfully Accused,” yet another spoof starring Leslie Nielsen.