‘Gladiator’ Has Roman Holiday at Box Office

The summer box-office games have begun with the sword and sandal epic “Gladiator,” which battled its way to an estimated $32.7 million in its first weekend.

Counter-programming with the romantic “I Dreamed of Africa” starring Kim Basinger, however, proved to be a nightmare, with a miserable $2.5 million start. “Africa,” opening in 2,112 theaters, was mauled by bad reviews and looks to disappear before Memorial Day, which will come as something of a relief to Sony’s competitors, who are eager to lock up the best screens during the crowded holiday period.

“Gladiator,” which opened on 2,938 screens, continues what has become a standing tradition of starting the summer season with a bang over the first weekend of May. As with “The Mummy,” “Twister” and “Deep Impact”--all of which debuted to better than $40 million--”Gladiator” achieved its $30 million-plus opening based solely on its concept. Like those other early summer hits, it lacked major above-the-title stars, but again offered audiences action with a twist: Hollywood hasn’t turned out a Roman-era spectacle since the days of “Ben-Hur” and “Spartacus” in the late ‘50s and early ‘60s.

“Gladiator’s” opening was tempered somewhat by its R-rating. However, DreamWorks, which co-produced the film with Universal, says the film compares favorably to the debuts of R-rated films like “Air Force One” and “Ransom”--$35-million-plus--each of which featured a major star (Harrison Ford and Mel Gibson, respectively). Another problem the film encounters is its lack of appeal to women. Despite DreamWorks’ lavish marketing campaign, the distaff contingent largely resisted the film’s charms. Opening night was overwhelmingly male (65%). But, says DreamWorks’ distribution executive Jim Tharp, word-of-mouth brought in some date-night couples on Saturday, achieving more of a gender balance. The film attracted a predominantly over-25 audience, with the R-rating keeping the younger segment of the action crowd away.

“Gladiator” is expected to hold its own against next weekend’s action entry, “Battlefield Earth,” starring John Travolta. And it’s already showing some muscle overseas. “Gladiator’s” Australia-reared star, Russell Crowe, propelled the opening weekend Down Under to $5 million, the fifth-highest opening on the continent ever.

The epic also knocked the stuffing out of many of the remaining movies in the top 10. The World War II action film “U-571” wisely got a two-week start on the summer competition and dominated the box office in 2,701 theaters. Its third weekend sustained an acceptable 38% hit to an estimated $7.6 million, bringing its 17-day total to just under $50 million, which should enable it to cruise at half speed through the end of the month.

The sci-fi film “Frequency” also held well in its second weekend in 2,631 theaters with only a 28% drop, picking up about $6.5 million for a 10-day total of almost $18 million. “Frequency” should cross over to the modest hit department very soon, as will the female-oriented “Where the Heart Is,” which grossed an estimated $5 million in its second weekend in 2,439 theaters for a total to date of $15.7 million. The other woman’s film, “Love and Basketball,” was estimated at $3.3 million in only 1,192 theaters. The low-budget surprise hit has amassed almost $20 million in three weeks.

Universal moved “The Flintstones in Viva Rock Vegas” to the end of the spring season, hoping to gather some box-office mass. But a second-weekend drop of 40%, to about $6.3 million in 3,050 theaters, indicates that by the time Disney’s “Dinosaur” arrives on May 19, “The Flintstones” could be extinct. The total so far for the $60-million sequel is a prehistoric $18.3 million.

The bottom portion of the top 10 is inhabited by two date-night entries, “28 Days” and “Keeping the Faith,” both of which have been around for a month. “Faith” pulled into eighth place with about $2.8 million for the weekend in 2,014 theaters and a four-week total of just under $30 million. “28 Days” is on 2,413 screens and has accumulated $32 million to date, approximately $2.35 million of that over the past weekend. A Saturday-night ticket to “Days” also boasted a sneak preview of the youth-oriented dance movie “Center Stage” in about 600 theaters. The previews were only about half-full, according to Sony Pictures’ distribution executive Jeff Blake, but encouragingly, most of the audience was composed of suburban teenage girls, who are the film’s primary target. “Center Stage” opens on Friday.

“Rules of Engagement,” which is on the way out with an almost 50% drop, marshaled an estimated $2.4 million in 2,261 theaters and a three-star $54 million total in five weeks.

Among the alternative titles, the modestly received art-house period drama “Up at the Villa” opened to a moderate $338,269 in its first weekend on 89 screens.