‘Grinch’ Still Raking in the Green

“Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” continued to buoy the box office, helping to keep the pre-Christmas seasonal attendance from slumping too badly. In its third weekend, “Grinch” recorded a princely estimate of $27.1 million, a more than acceptable drop of less than 50% from the record-breaking holiday weekend and enough to lift the film’s 17-day total to $172 million--that’s about $10 million a day on average. It’ll be at $200 million in less than a fortnight.

While “Grinch” is pulling in families and FOCs (Fans of Carrey), “Unbreakable,” starring Bruce Willis and directed by M. Night Shyamalan, was first choice among the adult crowd, with $15 million foreseen in its second weekend and a two-week total of almost $67 million. “Unbreakable” may not prove to be as shatter-proof as “The Sixth Sense” (from the same star-director duo), but it appears a safe bet for the $100-million club.

“102 Dalmatians” is proving to be a bit of a bow-wow at the box office as its second weekend dropped to a modest $8.5 million and a two-week total of just more than $36 million. As the third arrival of the Thanksgiving family films, “Dalmatians” has been subsisting largely on scraps, being that rare Disney label movie that fails to vault over the top by capitalizing on its heavy promotional tie-ins. (The studio gets another chance at the holidays with “The Emperor’s New Groove” on Dec. 15.) The third family film, “Rugrats in Paris,” is now at $55.5 million in its third weekend, if the estimate of $6.5 million over the past three days holds firm.

“Charlie’s Angels” is still proving hearty as it enters its second month, finishing in fifth place with $5.2 million anticipated and more than $115 million to date. “Bounce” still has pep in its step, romancing $4.4 million in its third week for a neat total of $30 million in three weeks.

“The 6th Day” and “Men of Honor” are homing in on the remaining adult action crowd with the former clocking about $4 million and a modest $30.6 million to date, and the latter scoring slightly more--$4.2 million and more than $41 million so far.

In ninth place after nine weeks is the hearty “Meet the Parents,” adding about $3.8 million as it soared past the $150-million mark to about $153 million. Tenth place falls to “Little Nicky,” which cobbled together approximately $2.3 million for just under $37 million to date.

The only new arrival over the weekend was the 1964 phenomenon “A Hard Day’s Night,” which felt all right with $42,000 on two screens. “Quills” is doing gangbusters on nine big-city screens, with a strong $209,500 in its second weekend and almost $650,000 in two weeks. “You Can Count on Me” is also in the winner’s circle on 53 screens, with $417,000 over the weekend and almost $1.7 million so far.

According to box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations, the top 12 films brought in revenues of about $83 million in one of the quieter weekends of the holiday season, but still a handy 17% ahead of last year. The first of the Christmas arrivals are due next weekend--the action film “Vertical Limit,” a feature-length version of the popular “Dungeons & Dragons” game and the kidnapping drama “Proof of Life,” starring Meg Ryan and Russell Crowe.

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BOX OFFICE

Estimated weekend grosses: (In millions)

1. “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas” $27.1 million.

2. “Unbreakable” $15 million

3. “102 Dalmatians” $8.5 million

4. “Rugrats in Paris” $6.5 million

5. “Charlie’s Angels” $5.2 million

6. “Bounce” $4.4 million

7. “Men of Honor” $4.2 million

8. “The 6th Day” $4 million

9. “Meet the Parents” $3.8 million

10. “Little Nicky” $2.3 million