A Frightfully Good Debut for the Latest ‘Haunting’

Never underestimate the allure of a haunted house. Despite harsh reviews, scare-starved audiences rushed to see DreamWorks’ effects-heavy remake of “The Haunting,” which provided deluxe accommodations on 2,808 screens to the tune of $33 million, one of the better debuts in recent weeks and higher than the company’s “Saving Private Ryan,” which opened to $30.5 million on the same weekend last year.

According to DreamWorks’ distribution executive Jim Tharp, the film brought in young males and females aplenty, effectively launching the film on Friday night but providing only a small increase on Saturday when attendance skews more toward adults.

“Inspector Gadget,” starring Matthew Broderick, didn’t get many bouquets from critics either, but the built-in kiddie audience for the gizmo-laden hero drew younger audiences like a magnet to attract an estimated $22 million on 2,814 screens, even with an audience heavily populated by children under 12 paying reduced admissions.

The weekend’s other national release, “Drop Dead Gorgeous,” was a bit of a stiff with critics and audiences alike, opening to only $4 million on 1,207 screens and unable to even crack the top 10.

“The Blair Witch Project” is quickly developing into the film phenomenon of the summer. After a first week that brought in an astounding $3 million on only 27 screens, “Blair Witch” added four theaters over the weekend and reaped another $2 million (a mind-boggling $64,500 per theater) for a 30% increase over the first weekend. In only 10 days, the film has grossed $5 million.

On Friday, “Blair Witch” goes wide on about 1,000 screens, with an additional 500 to 1,000 runs to come on Aug. 6. The film’s expectedly potent national debut was enough to scare other big studio releases such as “Mystery Men” and “Deep Blue Sea” off the release date.

The combined drawing power of the top two new arrivals sapped the energy out of several other movies, in particular “Eyes Wide Shut,” which had a disastrous 54% drop in its second weekend, indicating negative word of mouth on Stanley Kubrick’s psycho-sexual odyssey film. “Eyes” slipped to fourth place with an estimated $9.9 million in 2,483 theaters, with a two-week total of $40 million. After opening at No. 1, “Eyes” quickly fell to second place midweek behind the longer-running “American Pie.”

“Lake Placid” also got hit with “The Haunting,” which replaced it as the scary movie of the week. “Placid” dropped in half to an estimated $5.5 million in 1,635 theaters for a good two-week total of around $21 million.

The weekend’s grosses were higher than last weekend’s and just about even with last year’s. According to Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films sold $114 million in tickets, which is 6% ahead of last weekend.

Of the top 10 films, only “American Pie” managed to maintain its bearings against the new competition, dropping only 24% to a great $10.3 million in 2,540 locations and an excellent three-week total of almost $65 million.

“Big Daddy,” however, is starting to show some signs of age in its fifth weekend, losing more than 40% of its audience, down to a still vital $6.1 million in 2,904 sites, and has already amassed $146 million. “Wild Wild West” sustained an equally sharp decline, but managed to pass $100 million on Friday. The fourth weekend for Will Smith and company was down 46% to around $5.4 million in 3,045 theaters for a total to date of $104 million.

“Tarzan” fell 36% in its sixth weekend to a still-good $4.8 million in 2,281 theaters. Rounding out the top 10 were “The Wood” and “Stars Wars: Episode 1 The Phantom Menace.”

The coming-of-age drama “The Wood,” which is only playing on 1,191 screens, fell off by 42% to $4.9 million and a two-week total of about $16.5 million. Operating in its own universe, “Phantom Menace” continues at warp speed despite the heavy competition, bringing in $4.2 million on 1,614 screens in its 10th weekend.

Of the more specialized films debuting this weekend, the British import “My Life So Far” grossed an even $50,000 on five screens and the gay-themed “Trick” took in a great $123,000 on only six screens in New York, Los Angeles and San Francisco.