Moviegoers Embrace ‘Fears’

Hollywood’s initial fear that moviegoers might avoid films dealing with terrorism after Sept. 11 is proving unfounded the further removed the nation is from the attacks. As proof, the new Tom Clancy thriller, “The Sum of All Fears,” which shows Baltimore being nuked by neo-Nazi terrorists, debuted at No. 1 over the weekend with $31.2 million in ticket sales.

Falling to second place was “Star Wars: Episode II Attack of the Clones,” with $21 million, and third place went to “Spider-Man,” with $14.3 million.

“Undercover Brother” opened in fourth place with $12 million in ticket sales.

*--* Weekend Box Office Movie Three-day gross/ Screens/ Average Weeks in Release (Studio Total (millions) ) 1 “The Sum of All Fears” $31.2 3,183 1 (Paramo $31.2 $9,795 unt) 2 “Star Wars: Episode $21.0 3,161 3 II Attack of the Clones” (Fox) $232.3 $6,644 3 “Spider-Man” $14.3 3,646 5 (Sony/C $353.8 $3,927 olumbia ) 4 “Undercover Brother” $12.0 2,167 1 (Univer $12.0 $5,555 sal) 5 “Spirit: Stallion of $11.3 3,362 2 the Cimarron” (DreamW $38.8 $3,362 orks) 6 “Insomnia” $9.9 2,610 2 (Warner $41.6 $3,810 Bros.) 7 “Enough” $6.8 2,623 2 (Sony/C $27.1 $2,596 olumbia ) 8 “About a Boy” $4.1 1,756 3 (Univer $27.8 $2,350 sal) 9 “Unfaithful” $2.9 1,701 4 (Fox) $45.7 $1,730 10 “The New Guy” $1.4 1,676 4 (Sony/C $26.8 $844 olumbia ) Source: Exhibit or Relatio ns Co

*--*