Teens Rule Screens as ‘She’s All That’ Gives ‘Varsity’ the Blues

Teen films continued to rule the box office as “She’s All That” bumped “Varsity Blues” from the top spot this weekend, replacing the high school football tale with a “Pygmalion”-style campus romance.

“She’s All That,” the only new film in wide release, grossed an estimated $16.8 million for Friday through Sunday, according Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc. The movie stars Freddie Prinze Jr. as a high school student body president who takes a bet to transform an art geek (Rachael Leigh Cook) into prom queen.

The opening total was slightly below the $17.5 million that “Varsity Blues” pulled in when it opened in wide release two weeks ago. That movie fell to third place this weekend with $6.2 million in ticket sales, behind “Patch Adams,” which held onto the second-place spot with $6.8 million after a brief dip a couple of weeks ago.

“A Civil Action” was in fourth place with $4.8 million.

Buoyed by major wins at last week’s Golden Globes, “Shakespeare in Love” jumped three spots to No. 5 on just 759 screens. The film grossed $4 million for a per-screen average of $5,270, second only to the $7,561-per-theater average for “She’s All That.”

“Shakespeare in Love” won for best comedy or musical film and best screenplay, while Gwyneth Paltrow was named best actress in a comedy at the 56th annual awards.

Rounding out the top 10 were “The Thin Red Line,” $3.8 million; “Stepmom,” $3.7 million; “The Prince of Egypt,” $3 million; “You’ve Got Mail,” $3 million, and “At First Sight,” $2.8 million.