‘Cast Away’ Survives Holidays at No. 1, Spears $100 Million

The old year rang out on a felicitous note at the motion picture box office. Only a blizzard in the East was expected to keep the four-day New Year’s weekend from breaking the $184-million record set over Memorial Day. Even if that record stands, a quintet of strong performers propelled the year 2000 north of last year’s $7.5-billion total.

Leading the pack is “Cast Away,” which swept past $100 million Sunday, still selling tickets at a torrid clip. As with many of the films in the top 10, the survival drama’s current weekend haul was higher than its debut last week, with an estimated $31.2 million in 2,927 theaters--more than $10,500 a screen.

The Tom Hanks star vehicle becomes his ninth film to top $100 million (not including the two “Toy Story” movies to which he gave his voice).

Mel Gibson is only a couple of hits behind, one of them being his current comedy “What Women Want,” which jumped to $22.6 million in its third weekend on 3,046 screens, hitting the $100-million mark on Saturday. Its total take so far is $112 million, which means it is likely to reach $150 million before it’s done, and probably more.

On the distaff comedy side, Sandra Bullock is more than holding her own with “Miss Congeniality,” which sneaked in under the radar for the holidays and is on its way to becoming a major hit. Its second weekend climbed to an expected $15.5 million on 2,668 screens for almost $43 million in only 10 days, giving Warner Bros. its first big hit since the reissue of “The Exorcist” in September.

“Family Man,” Universal’s parting gift to one of its best years ever, was in fourth place for the weekend. The Nicolas Cage comedy-drama is a solid mid-range hit with approximately $14 million expected in its second weekend in 2,395 theaters, and close to $40 million in its first 10 days. Whether the Yule-themed movie will still draw come January will become evident starting next weekend.

With the ghost of Christmas passed, “The Emperor’s New Groove” was finally able to get a leg up on “How the Grinch Stole Christmas.” Disney’s latest animated original came to life the day after Christmas and soared to $11.8 million in 2,887 theaters. With the help of the holiday school recess, “The Emperor” is now solidly in his groove, with more than $50 million expected to be in the till by the end of today.

With “Grinch” fading away in the coming weeks, the kids’ audience will pretty much belong to “Groove.” But shed no tears for “Grinch,” which has hoarded more than $250 million in the past seven weeks, an estimated $7.8 million of that over the past weekend on 3,170 screens.

Even with the traditional New Year’s Eve downturn and snowstorms in the East putting a crimp in attendance, the top 12 films were expected to gross about $128 million or more for the weekend, according to box office tracking firm Exhibitor Relations--a feisty 24% ahead of last year.

“Vertical Limit” got a new lease on life during the holidays. Obscured by several films with major stars, “Limit” hung in there and saw a substantial increase in business over its fourth weekend, scaling $6 million or so in 2,450 theaters. The film is nearing the $50-million base camp.

Because it’s a horror movie, Wes Craven’s “Dracula 2000” predictably lost ground in its second weekend, dropping to $5.3 million in 2,204 theaters for a 10-day total of just under $20 million. But “Dude, Where’s My Car?” was still popular with teens, taking in $4.6 million in its third weekend in 2,027 theaters. “Car” is now cruising at around $34 million.

On only 162 screens, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon” is still doing virtual capacity business, taking in $22,000 a theater over the weekend for a $3.6-million estimate and a hefty two-week total of $12.5 million. “Tiger” expands to about 500 screens on Jan. 12.

The one sour note for the holidays is “All the Pretty Horses,” which opened quietly on Christmas Day in 1,548 theaters amid mixed reviews. The weekend was at a canter with a disappointing $3.1 million, and $7.3 million in its first full week.

Buoyed by strong reviews and year-end award recognition, Steven Soderbergh’s drug-war drama “Traffic” was jammed in its Wednesday debut on four screens, and the gridlock is not letting up. At 90% capacity in its four New York and Los Angeles engagements, “Traffic” ticketed $181,532 over the weekend, almost $46,000 a theater for more than $300,000 in only five days. “Traffic” breaks wide on about 1,500 screens Friday.

Sean Connery’s drama “Finding Forrester” is off to a nice start, picking up some steam in its first weekend in 200 theaters with $2 million (and $4.3 million after one week). “Forrester” will go into wide release for the Martin Luther King Jr. holiday weekend.

Among the other limited-release stars, “O Brother, Where Art Thou?,” starring George Clooney, spilled onto 96 screens over the weekend and registered a cool $1.2 million (and $1.5 million in only 10 days). “Before Night Falls” looks to be a respectable art-house performer based on a second-weekend estimate of $67,500 on eight screens and $210,000 in 10 days. So does David Mamet’s satirical comedy “State and Main,” with $1.5 million collected so far, $472,000 of that over the weekend on 72 screens.