Weekend Movies Get Hit by a Summer Frost

There was a chill factor in movie theaters over the weekend--and it wasn’t the air-conditioning.

Grosses for the top 12 films comparable to last year were down approximately 14%, according to the box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations. Sci-fi ruled the day, with the thriller “Hollow Man” and the adventure “Space Cowboys” duking it out for first place, beating out a trio of modest new arrivals, the best of which was the unscreened-for-critics “Autumn in New York.” (See review, F3.)

Starring Richard Gere and Winona Ryder, and benefiting from the lack of romance in theaters, “Autumn” captured an estimated $11.5 million in 2,255 theaters, to rank third. Its audience was overwhelmingly female and older.

The Keanu Reeves football comedy “The Replacements,” despite two weekends of sneak previews, got no higher than $11.1 million in 2,754 theaters, placing fourth, and indicating that audiences are not geared up for gridiron action yet.

The supernatural drama “Bless the Child,” starring Kim Basinger, did even less well, climbing only as high as seventh place, with about $9.6 million in 2,524 theaters. Like “Autumn in New York,” the film drew in a largely older female audience.

“Hollow Man” just barely hung on to the top berth, playing like a horror movie and dropping 50% in its second weekend to $13.1 million in 2,956 theaters for a good 10-day total of close to $50 million.

Clint Eastwood and his merry band of geriatric astronauts in “Space Cowboys” proved they still have the right stuff, dancing to the tune of about $13.1 million--the same as “Hollow Man”--in the movie’s second weekend, on 2,835 screens, and a handy 10-day total of just over $39 million.

Older patrons are also making up the lion’s share of the business for “What Lies Beneath,” starring Harrison Ford, showing little erosion in weekend No. 4, with an estimated $9.8 million in 2,925 theaters and a monthlong total of more than $112 million. It ranked sixth.

In fifth place, “Nutty Professor II” suffered another drop in its third weekend (off 43%), to about $10.3 million in 3,245 theaters. With $94 million in the bank already and the $100-million level looming by next weekend, there’s not much to complain about, although the Eddie Murphy comedy sequel will do only slightly better than Martin Lawrence’s early-summer cross-dressing comedy, “Big Momma’s House,” which begs the question: Did Lawrence steal some of Murphy’s thunder?

In eighth place, taking a headlong dive off the bar, was “Coyote Ugly,” dropping a sharp 55% in its second weekend to an expected $7.8 million in 2,664 theaters and a fair 10-day total of $34.2 million (midweek business was surprisingly strong).

The loyal “X-Men” following coughed up another $4.2 million for the film’s fifth weekend in 2,144 theaters for a total to date of $144 million. The film ranked ninth.

Rounding out the top 10 and still treading water is “The Perfect Storm” with approximately $2.8 million in its seventh weekend, in 1,938 theaters, surpassing $170 million in the process.

Among limited-engagement films, John Waters’ comedy “Cecil B. DeMented” debuted to a strong $130,000 on nine screens. Also opening was “An Affair of Love,” which courted $27,000 in four theaters.

The Hungarian epic “Sunshine” has now topped the $5-million mark with $225,000 over the weekend in 141 theaters. The French romance “Girl on the Bridge” held well in its second weekend, with 65,000 on 15 screens and $225,000 so far. Also in its second weekend, “Saving Grace” jumped 25% to $358,000 on 35 screens and a two-week cumulative of $758,000.