Patching Up an Ailing Holiday Season

After a few lackluster pre-holiday weekends, a funny doctor, rival moms, an e-mail romance and Moses combined to elevate movie attendance to levels comparable to last year’s torrid Christmas weekend.

Santa Claus gave hitless Universal Pictures its first breakout performer in almost 18 months. Critics may have roasted the Robin Williams comedy-drama “Patch Adams” like chestnuts on an open fire, but “Patch” grossed a record-breaking estimated $25.3 million in 2,714 theaters after opening Christmas Day.

In second place was “Stepmom,” in which Julia Roberts and Susan Sarandon trade barbs through their tears. This drama also brought out the Scrooge in many reviewers, but the female segment of the audience (young and old, according to Sony Pictures) was obviously looking for a good cry. In what was a hotly contested battle for second place, the three-hankie affair brought in $19.4 million in 2,358 houses.

The other two national arrivals didn’t fare as well. “The Faculty” brought some chills and thrills to the holiday season but not at the box-office level of “Scream,” with an estimated $11.8 million in 2,365 theaters over the weekend. The family film “Mighty Joe Young” didn’t live up to its moniker, collecting a modest $10.9 million in 2,502 theaters in its opening weekend.

The big news on the limited release front was “The Thin Red Line,” which pulled down mixed-to-positive reviews and $296,358 over the weekend on just five big-city screens, a very strong $58,000 per theater for a five-day total of almost $400,000. The John Travolta drama “A Civil Action” also found reviewers mixed but held court with $68,000 on just two screens after its Dec. 25 debut.

Even without the mother of all ocean liners, box-office totals for the top 12 films over Christmas weekend are expected to be near last year’s. The diversity of films seems to have made the difference. “There’s a lot out there to see,” says 20th Century Fox senior executive Tom Sherak. If the weekend estimates hold up, about $145 million in tickets will have been sold from Friday to Sunday. The last days of the year could see totals top $200 million to make it one of the best weeks ever at the movies.

Sandwiched among the four new national releases were “You’ve Got Mail” and “The Prince of Egypt.” The Tom Hanks-Meg Ryan romantic comedy was solidly online in third place with an estimated $19.1 million in 2,758 theaters, though most of Warner Bros.’ competitors say that the figure is more than $1 million too optimistic. Hyperbole aside, “Mail” has delivered about $48 million in just 10 days. “Prince” is spread thin over 3,218 runs and, while not exactly performing miracles, it actually climbed by 5% over its first weekend to $15.3 million for more than $40 million in 10 days.

“A Bug’s Life” got a new lease on life with kids over the holidays and, despite losing more than 300 theaters, managed to fill the remaining 2,456 with an estimated $10.1 million in admissions (up a hair from last weekend), bringing its five-week total to just under $115 million. “Star Trek: Insurrection” also held on with only a slight drop to $7.45 million in 2,677 theaters and about $48 million to date. “Enemy of the State” is not getting lost in the shuffle, with $5.2 million on 1,505 screens, up almost 10% from last weekend, despite the loss of more than 700 screens. In six weeks, “Enemy” has amassed almost $88 million.

“Jack Frost,” however, fell to 10th place, unable to stand the heat of the competition and dropping to about $4 million on 2,142 screens for a total of $22.6 million over three weekends.

In its first major expansion, to 295 screens, “Shakespeare in Love” captured $8,500 a theater for an estimated $2.5 million and a total of $3.4 million. Also showing some blarney in its first expansion is “Waking Ned Devine.” Now on 259 screens, “Ned” charmed another $1.65 million for just under $4 million to date.

Debuting on 416 screens Christmas Day was Maya Angelou’s first film, “Down in the Delta,” which had a very promising $1.6-million start and appears to be finding its niche.