Reality Is Sweet for ‘The Matrix,’ Still at No. 1

The eye-popping science fiction adventure “The Matrix” remained No. 1 at the box office with $22.2 million over the weekend, and spring break crowds gave Drew Barrymore’s back-to-school film “Never Been Kissed” a strong $11.7-million opening, estimates showed Sunday.

“The Matrix,” starring Keanu Reeves in the story of a computer hacker who finds out that reality isn’t what it seems, has emerged as the year’s second breakout hit--after “Analyze This”--grossing $72.9 million in just two weeks. It slipped only 20% from the previous weekend.

But not even the wizardry of “The Matrix” could pull the year out of its post-”Titanic” syndrome. After a momentary upturn when “The Matrix” opened, the overall box office was once again down--this time by 4.4%--from the same weekend last year, when “City of Angels,” “Lost in Space” and “Titanic” were going strong.

With more than half of the nation’s young people on vacation last week, youth-oriented films predictably dominated the top 10--with a mixed bag of results.

“Never Been Kissed” landed in second place, while the hip-hop comedy “Foolish” opened in ninth with $2.26 million and an impressive per-screen average of $7,410--even though its studio, fearing bad reviews, didn’t screen the movie for critics.

“10 Things I Hate About You,” the loose adaptation of Shakespeare’s “The Taming of the Shrew,” slid 38% in its second week to finish fourth with $5.2 million.

Another new film, the Sundance Film Festival favorite “Go,” opened with a somewhat disappointing $4.7 million for sixth. Sony is now counting on strong word of mouth to keep the critically praised rave-scene film from plummeting into oblivion when most kids go back to school this week.

For older audiences, the Steve Martin-Goldie Hawn comedy “The Out-of-Towners” had $5.3 million for third place, the mob comedy “Analyze This” collected another $5.1 million for fifth and the Sandra Bullock-Ben Affleck romance “Forces of Nature” had $3.7 million for seventh.

Jackie Chan’s latest effort, “Twin Dragons,” proved he’s better suited in movies that pair him with somebody other than himself. Using special effects to create two Jackies, “Twin” opened with a so-so $2.8 million for eighth, a fraction of the opening of the hit “Rush Hour,” which teamed him with comedian Chris Tucker.

Disney’s decision to put “Doug’s 1st Movie” in theaters instead of video stores has paid off. Originally intended as a direct-to-video title, the low-budget, feature-length version of the popular kids’ cartoon collected another $2.3 million to bring its total to $13.9 million after three weeks.

Ron Howard’s comedy “EDtv,” however, has shaped up as the year’s biggest disappointment, suffering in part from too many comparisons to last year’s successful “The Truman Show.” “EDtv” plunged 51% to collect $2.2 million with a paltry per-location average of $882.