‘Spy Kids’ Takes Top Spot Again

The family-oriented action/comedy “Spy Kids,” starring Antonio Banderas, left the competition reeling again, fighting off challenges from three new films over the Easter weekend to remain atop the box-office charts for the third straight week. “Spy Kids” grossed $12.5 million.

Coming in second place was the Morgan Freeman thriller “Along Came a Spider,” which took in $11.5 million.

The highest debuting film was Miramax’s romantic comedy “Bridget Jones’s Diary” starring Renee Zellweger. Although released on a modest 1,611 screens, the film grossed $10.7 million for a third-place opening.

It was followed by the new raunchy comedy, “Joe Dirt,” starring David Spade, which rolled up $8 million in ticket sales.

The African American-themed comedy “Kingdom Come” grossed an impressive $7.6 million to debut in sixth place, while the preteen rock ‘n’ roll comedy “Josie and the Pussycats” opened with a disappointing $4.6 million.

“ ‘Spy Kids’ is just dominating the marketplace, taking on all competition and blowing them away,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of box-office tracking firm, Exhibitor Relations Co. “It’s amazing because many of these admissions are at children’s prices or matinees, when ticket prices are cheaper.”

Asked what could have happened to “Josie and the Pussycats,” which many thought would have performed better, Dergarabedian said: “I think part of the audience was just siphoned off by ‘Spy Kids.’ ”

The box office overall was about 1% higher this Easter weekend than last year’s Easter weekend. To date, the box office is about 16% ahead of last year at this time.

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Three-day gross/ Screens/ Weeks in Movie (Studio) Total (millions) Average Release 1. “Spy Kids” $12.5 3,172 3 (Dimension) $68.3 $3,941 2. “Along Came a Spider” $11.5 2,530 2 (Paramount) $33.9 $4,556 3. “Bridget Jones’s Diary” $10.7 1,611 1 (Miramax) $10.7 $6,663 4. “Joe Dirt” * $8.02 2,638 1 (Sony/Columbia) $10.7 $3,039 5. “Blow” $8.01 2,638 2 (New Line) $25.9 $3,563 6. “Kingdom Come”* $7.6 1,111 1 (Fox Searchlight) $9.7 $6,807 7. “Josie and the Pussycats”* $4.6 2,556 1 (Universal) $6.6 $1,785 8.”Pokemon 3: The Movie” $2.71 2,675 2 (Warner Bros.) $13.0 $1,012 9.”Enemy at the Gates” $2.7 1,694 5 (Paramount) $43.2 $1,573 10.”Someone Like You” $2.6 2,210 3 (Fox) $22.3 $1,178

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* Opened Wednesday

SOURCE: Exhibitor Relations Co.