A Big Week of Mice and Men

Attendance sprang back to life after Christmas and into the new century with the children, appropriately, leading the way. “Stuart Little” was the mouse that roared, doubling its total over the past week, averaging more than $6 million a day from Monday through Thursday and scratching up another $16 million over the New Year’s weekend.

At just under $80 million in only three weeks, and a higher third-weekend gross than in the first two, “Stuart” has pulled into the lead among this year’s holiday releases and should soon become the 18th $100-million-grossing film of 1999.

But “The Green Mile” is not far behind--at least according to Warner Bros.’ wildly ambitious estimates. With the holidays finally over, audiences seem to have three hours to set aside for Tom Hanks and his merry band of death row inmates. “Mile” climbed back up into second place with a fourth-weekend estimate of $13.2 million (though its competitors have the weekend at no more than $10.5 million), which would give it a total of $78 million.

Warner Bros. has another yuletide hit in “Any Given Sunday,” which has amassed more than $47 million in less than two weeks of release, about $13 million (again, close to $2 million higher than estimates from competing studios) of that over the New Year’s weekend despite stiff competition from the various bowl games.

But the real holiday star continues to be “Toy Story 2,” which performed like the Energizer bunny during Christmas week with daily totals of $4.5 million a day, despite having been in release for six weeks. The past weekend is estimated at $12.1 million. “Toy” greeted the new year by passing the $200-million mark and, with almost $209 million so far, has surpassed another dynamite sequel, “Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me,” to become 1999’s third-largest-grossing movie and Disney’s most profitable film after “The Lion King.”

Hollywood closed out the century with its only $7-billion-plus year, with Exhibitor Relations predicting a preliminary total of between $7.4 billion and $7.5 billion, depending on the final tally of the New Year’s weekend. That’s about 8% ahead of last year’s record. Ticket sales should be about 1.54 billion (only 4% better than 1998’s 1.48 billion), meaning that wide-screen televisions and the Internet haven’t totally quashed the moviegoing habit yet.

The transitional weekend into the 21st century was about 2% ahead of last year, with the top 12 films grossing an estimated $103.7 million, though final totals could be somewhat lower.

*

Disney started off the century auspiciously with the Jan. 1 release of “Fantasia/2000.” As of Sunday, the studio only had results of the actual Saturday grosses from 46 of the Imax screens on which the film debuted--about $1 million, which is amazing given that Imax houses usually seat no more than 300 patrons. Disney representative Chuck Viane says that based on advance ticket sales, the animated spectacular should do at least as well on Sunday as opening day. “Fantasia/2000” broke records at 40 of the 46 theaters reporting their opening-day gross.

“The Talented Mr. Ripley” also looks to be one of the better performers of the Christmas crop. Its first full three-day weekend brought an estimated $12 million. With almost $40 million already in the till after nine days, “Ripley” has already made back its budget, and in the process, confirmed the box office potency of stars Matt Damon and Gwyneth Paltrow. “Ripley” looks to hang on through the Oscar season with the $100-million distinction not out of the question.

James Bond also got a bit of a reprieve during the holidays as “The World Is Not Enough” added to its already sizable take amassed since Thanksgiving. Though no longer in the top 10, “World” clocked another $2.7 million or so over the weekend for a seven-week total of almost $118 million, the second-highest-grossing year-end film to date.

Another Thanksgiving film that picked up extra coin over the past couple of weeks was “Sleepy Hollow,” which grossed an additional $1.55 million in its seventh weekend, and about $93 million so far.

Though it was marketed to kids, adults are coming to realize that the space spoof “Galaxy Quest” is as much a movie for them as their children. Its second weekend went 38% beyond its opening two days with an estimated $9.7 million, for a nine-day total of more than $27 million.

The season’s other notable comedy, “Deuce Bigalow: Male Gigolo,” has now grossed $46 million counting in an estimated $5.3 million over the weekend.

*

Then there were the disappointments, among which “End of Days” probably leads the pack. The Arnold Schwarzenegger thriller didn’t get much refueling over the holidays--only $1.3 million over its sixth weekend. The total take so far is an underwhelming $63 million in the U.S., though “Days” is far from over in foreign markets, where it is outperforming its domestic gross.

“Bicentennial Man” became a viable family alternative during the holidays, though its future still appears uncertain. New Year’s weekend brought in about $8 million, for a good, if not great, three-week total of almost $40 million.

Jim Carrey’s “Man on the Moon” is proving that the late Andy Kaufman’s humor is an acquired taste, losing ground after only two weeks, with the past weekend bringing in a modest $5.2 million and a total of less than $25 million.

“Anna and the King” is holding on for dear life with an estimated $4.8 million in its third weekend, for a 17-day total of just $24.2 million.

Of the year-end limited releases, a few will go on to bigger and better things over the next month. One of the most promising films due for wide release in January is “The Hurricane,” which rained critical hallelujahs on its star, Denzel Washington, resulting in a haymaker $295,000 weekend punch on just 11 screens--almost $27,000 a theater--and $452,000 since its Dec. 29 release. Plans were for “Hurricane” to begin to spread out over the Jan. 15-17 Martin Luther King holiday weekend, but the strength of the first weekend will accelerate those plans somewhat, according to Universal Pictures.

Another late-year release, “The Third Miracle,” only managed $31,000 on six screens for $43,000 to date.

*

The three-hour drama, “Magnolia” increased its take by 18% from last weekend, up to $152,000 on nine screens and $755,000 in three weeks. “Magnolia” begins its expansion this coming weekend.

“Snow Falling on Cedars” will be on about 1,100 screens starting Friday, with the second weekend on just three screens bringing in $35,000 and $131,000 so far.

“The Cider House Rules” finally picked up some steam over the holidays, increasing its take on 332 screens to $1.4 million and $3.7 million to date, which bodes well for a wider release.

“Cradle Will Rock” transitioned into 38 theaters for a weekend total of $217,000 and almost $800,000 to date.

“Boys Don’t Cry,” which has been playing in limited release since October, keeps getting stronger by the week, with the past weekend bringing in $90,000 on 47 screens and $2.7 million to date.

“Liberty Heights,” which has been around for seven weeks, grossed about $371,000 over the weekend on 115 screens for a total of $2.2 million to date.

“Girl, Interrupted,” starring Winona Ryder (going wide in mid-January), was up 15% from last weekend to $110,000 on nine screens and $425,000 in two weeks.

“End of the Affair” (going wide on Jan. 21), saw a 60% increase over the weekend on 58 screens for $365,000 and $1.6 million to date.

Julie Taymor’s film version of “Titus” (Andronicus) held about even with its first weekend of $25,000 on two screens for $77,000 so far.

“Angela’s Ashes” is doing modestly well with $60,000 on six screens and $184,000 so far.