Moviegoers Devour Another Slice of ‘Pie’

Thanks to a late surge in attendance, the summer movie season now appears likely to move ahead of the 1999 record of slightly more than $3 billion. The past weekend was the biggest ever for the second week of August and only about 10% off last weekend’s non-holiday record pace.

That’s because, for the fourth weekend in a row, a new film was No. 1 in the hearts and minds of audiences with a gross of more than $40 million.

Despite forecasts that stricter enforcement of the R rating would curtail attendance, Universal Pictures discovered that overcoming that handicap was as easy as pie. “American Pie 2,” the further adventures of a group of one-track-minded young men, opened to a randy estimate of $45.1 million in 3,063 multiplexes over the weekend, the best-ever debut for an R-rated comedy and more than double the tickets sold by the original teen raunchfest, which started at $18.7 million and eventually surpassed $100 million.

In addition, another new film--the modestly budgeted, arty, haunted-house drama “The Others,” starring Nicole Kidman--garnered strong reviews for the actress and cracked the mainstream with an estimated $13.7 million in 1,678 theaters. It’s Kidman’s bookend film of the summer, the first being the musical “Moulin Rouge,” which was released in May and has grossed about $55 million.

But two films aimed at the family audience opened to lackluster numbers. The live-action/animated “Osmosis Jones,” replete with enough squirmy bodily functions to satisfy even the most discriminating kid, got off to an anemic $5.6 million start on 2,305 screens. “Jones” appears to be one of the summer casualties, lacking the appeal of Warner Bros.’ earlier summer family comedy, “Cats & Dogs,” which has captured nearly $90 million to date.

Even with a few minutes of new footage, the re-release of “Spy Kids” seemed ill timed and overly calculated and was met with indifference from the family audience, barely cracking the top 12 with $1.4 million on 1,676 screens, bringing its total to $109 million, most of it collected from the film’s original spring debut.

“American Pie 2” is Universal’s fourth consecutive film to debut at No. 1 with more than $40 million this summer, according to Nikki Rocco, studio distribution president.

No other studio has had more than one $40-million-plus opening in a 12-month period. Universal has had five: “Dr. Seuss’ How the Grinch Stole Christmas,” “The Mummy Returns,” “Jurassic Park III,” “The Fast and the Furious” and now “American Pie 2”--and six if you extend the period a bit and count “The Nutty Professor II,” which debuted in late July last year.

The first-weekend take on “American Pie 2” is about $15 million more than the film cost to produce, though the $30-million tab is well ahead of the first film’s modest $11-million budget.

Last weekend’s top movie, “Rush Hour 2” starring Chris Tucker and Jackie Chan, took an expected hit of 53% from its lofty $67-million perch. But midweek business was sensational, taking the film to the brink of $100 million in only seven days. With the addition of $31.5 million this past weekend, “Rush Hour 2” has now amassed nearly $132 million and could reach $200 million, making it the third film of the summer to do so.

The top 12 films this weekend grossed an estimated $146.4 million, according to box-office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations Co., 51% ahead of last year. The momentum of “American Pie 2” and “Rush Hour 2” should carry through to the end of summer, and with the potential of one or two more modest hits before Labor Day, the summer should surpass the 1999 record in dollars, if not in admissions.

Disney’s “The Princess Diaries,” starring Julie Andrews in her first film for the studio since 1964’s “Mary Poppins,” held well with only a 38% drop to a pert $14.1 million in its second weekend. Its 10-day total is just shy of $52 million.

“Planet of the Apes” fell another 52% in its third weekend to a still-solid $13.3 million and a 17-day total of nearly $149 million. Tim Burton’s remake should end up in the same neighborhood as “Jurassic Park III,” which closed out a month with about $160 million, an estimated $7.3 million of that coming from the past weekend.

The Julia Roberts ensemble comedy “America’s Sweethearts” is on the wane, dropping to $4.6 million over the weekend for a total to date of $83.4 million. “Legally Blonde” is still alive and kicking with $3.8 million and nearly $79 million to date.

At the bottom of the top 10 was “Original Sin,” which plummeted to $3 million in its second weekend for a chaste 10-day total of $12.5 million.

Specialized films are starting to multiply now that the bulk of the major studio releases are in distribution and adult audiences begin to search for some substance. The suspense film “The Deep End” opened to stellar reviews, particularly for its star Tilda Swinton, and grossed about $140,000 over the weekend on six screens and almost $200,000 in its first six days. Fox Searchlight intends to expand the film to 50 screens this weekend and about 200 theaters the following weekend.

On 19 screens, “Apocalypse Now Redux” did a mighty $350,000, for a two-week total of $525,000. Francis Ford Coppola’s war epic doubles its screen count this weekend.

The thug comedy “Made” took in $430,000 over the weekend on 128 screens and has amassed $3.1 million. “Ghost World” took in $350,000 on 34 screens, bringing its total to $1.3 million. And “Hedwig & the Angry Inch” sang up about $250,000 on 50 screens for $1.1 million to date and will inch out to more theaters this weekend.