‘Pokemon’ Clobbers Its Rivals Over Weekend

It was a “Pokemon” weekend, as the Japanese-made animated film carried on its scorched-earth policy with an estimated $32.4-million weekend take and a chart-busting five-day total of $52.1 million.

Since none of the other major releases gave away trading cards, only one, the controversial theological comedy “Dogma,” made any kind of dent at the box office. The others, the Joan of Arc movie “The Messenger,” the mother-daughter tale “Anywhere but Here” and the high school drama “Light It Up” all had drab opening weekends or worse.

But first, the good news.

After getting off to an unheard of $10 million last Wednesday, “Pokemon: The First Movie”--playing at 3,043 theaters--hasn’t dipped below $9 million in any of its first five days, with the Saturday total up to $13 million and the Sunday estimate pegged at $10.25 million (though some Warners competitors say the weekend totals are on the high side). Nonetheless, “Pokemon” delivered the best ever non-Disney animated weekend, comfortably ahead of “Rugrats’ ” $27.3 million last year at this time. And, for the record, it is the best five-day animated total, surpassing “A Bug’s Life,” which took in $45.7 million, over the 1998 Thanksgiving weekend.

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The controversy surrounding “Dogma,” starring Matt Damon and Ben Affleck, seems to have paid off. Miramax bought Kevin Smith’s religious comedy, but, because of the company’s ties to Disney, is distributing the film through Lion’s Gate. On only 1,260 screens, “Dogma” chalked up a believable $8.8 million, almost $7,000 a theater--good for third place behind last weekend’s chart-topper, “The Bone Collector.”

While “Dogma” had its fans, the saintly Joan of Arc played to a small audience in 2,147 theaters. The French-made, $60-million “The Messenger” delivered only a $6.3-million debut for Columbia Pictures, landing fourth on the weekend slate.

“Anywhere but Here,” the 20th Century Fox film based on Mona Simpson’s best-selling novel and starring Susan Sarandon and Natalie Portman, was bagged by poor reviews. It finished in fifth place with a weekend total of only $5.7 million on 1,673 theaters.

The debut for Fox’s other release for the weekend, the African American drama “Light It Up,” was even dimmer--$2.5 million on 1,253 screens. “Light” wasn’t even able to muster up its core audience and thus failed to make the top 10. The five-day total is a low-wattage $3.2 million.

The quirky independent comedy “Being John Malkovich” expanded to 467 theaters in its third weekend, bringing in a bona fide estimate of $2.4 million and $6.1 million to date.

“The Bone Collector” proved to be sturdy enough to hang on to second place. The thriller, starring Denzel Washington and Angelina Jolie, suffered a modest 28% drop to a feisty $12 million and has collected a strong $35.3 million in its first 10 days.

“The Insider,” starring Al Pacino, got off to a shaky start last weekend but is obviously getting good enough word-of-mouth among older adults. The drama’s second weekend fall-off was limited to 24%, for an estimated $5.1-million gross in 1,833 theaters and a sixth-place finish. Its 10-day total is just more than $14 million.

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The romantic comedy “The Bachelor,” starring Chris O’Donnell, however, is showing wobbly legs. The second weekend was down about 38% from its decent debut. On 2,524 screens, “Bachelor” landed in seventh place with a modest $4.6 million (and a 10-day total of nearly $14.5 million).

In eighth place was “House on Haunted Hill,” which continues its steady decline in its third weekend to a still acceptable $4.4 million in 2,530 theaters and a winning tally of close to $35 million to date. Two other hits continue to live long and prosper: “Double Jeopardy,” the smash of the fall season, added an additional $3 million or thereabouts in its eighth weekend on 2,110 theaters for a hefty two-month total somewhere in the neighborhood of $110 million; in 10th place and still kicking after 15 weeks is “The Sixth Sense,” which took in an additional $2.7 million or so on 1,418 screens. The 12th highest-grossing film of all time is nearing $270 million.

In limited release, “Boys Don’t Cry” is still wailing. In just 30 theaters, the real life drama collected $150,000, bringing its total to date to an impressive $1.5 million. David Lynch’s elegiac “The Straight Story” is now on 181 screens, collecting $410,000 over the weekend for $2.2 million so far. And Canadian filmmaker Atom Egoyan’s “Felicia’s Journey” opened in five theaters over the weekend, claiming $47,500, about $9,500 a screen.

Totals for the second weekend in November reversed the previous weekend’s downward trend. According to Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films grossed a pleasing $90 million or so, 43% ahead of last weekend and about 4% better than the comparable weekend last year.

Fireworks are expected next weekend when two big-budget holiday items arrive: the James Bond film “The World Is Not Enough,” with Pierce Brosnan in the title role, and Tim Burton’s “Sleepy Hollow,” starring Johnny Depp and Christina Ricci.