‘Civil Action’ Makes Winning Case for Top Spot

It took “A Civil Action” to unseat “Patch Adams” at the box office this weekend, as the legal thriller earned $14.5 million to grab the No. 1 spot in theaters.

The film, which stars John Travolta as a vain attorney who wagers everything on a toxic waste case, opened on Christmas Day before expanding to 1,802 locations over the weekend, and its wide release provided the only new choice for most moviegoers.

“Patch Adams,” which finished at No. 1 the previous two weekends, fell to second place with an estimated $12 million, bringing its three-week total to $82.8 million.

Bad weather aggravated the usual post-holiday letdown, leading to overall grosses for the top films being off nearly 15% from the same weekend last year. Attendance dropped for “Patch Adams” and plunged for “Stepmom,” “You’ve Got Mail,” “The Prince of Egypt,” “Mighty Joe Young” and “A Bug’s Life,” according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Inc.

With two weekends in a row showing a decline from last year’s intake, the movie year is off to a slower start than the “Titanic”-powered 1998, a record year for ticket sales and attendance.

“You’re facing last year, which had the all-time granddaddy in ‘Titanic.’ We’re going to pale in comparison to that,” said Chuck Viane, a Walt Disney Co. distribution executive. “But when you look at the depth of the movies--11 films did more than $1 million Saturday--it’s very, very good for the industry.”

For the second weekend in a row, weather played a factor. The crippling cold decimated Friday night movie attendance in Eastern cities such as New York, Boston and Philadelphia and, to a lesser extent, Chicago in the Midwest. Attendance rebounded Saturday but not enough to overcome Friday’s losses. Also, with people returning to work and school after the holidays, the period is traditionally a slower one.

The Robin Williams vehicle “Patch Adams,” in which the comic actor plays a medical student who heals with humor, lost a relatively modest 37% of business in its third week. Showing larger drop-offs were “Stepmom,” in third place with $8 million (down 45%); “You’ve Got Mail” at No. 4 with $7.7 million (down 46%); “The Prince of Egypt” with $5.8 million (a 48% drop); “Mighty Joe Young” with $4.7 million (42% off) and “A Bug’s Life” in seventh place with $4.5 million (down 49%).

“Shakespeare in Love” added screens and business, jumping 26% to eighth place with a $4-million weekend. That tied with “The Faculty,” followed by “Enemy of the State” and “Star Trek: Insurrection,” which each drew in $3 million.

The World War II epic “The Thin Red Line” continued to do well in limited release, collecting $1.2 million on 61 screens for a whopping average of $19,672 per location.