Weekend box office

With the box-office slump arrested but not reversed, comedies and family movies continue to do well, especially “Anger Management” in its sophomore weekend and the newcomer “Holes,” which is based on a popular novel about a group of boys at a detention camp. Smaller films such as “A Mighty Wind” and “Better Luck Tomorrow” performed quite well in limited release and seem to fill a void for adult entertainment.

But at a little less than $2.4 billion as of Monday, box office still lags behind last year’s tally of about $2.5 billion at the same time, and year-to-date attendance -- that is, the number of tickets sold -- is down about 10%. Industry observers are looking to “X2: X-Men United,” opening May 2, to kick off the summer season with a bang. Still, movies will have a long way to climb to reach last year’s heights, particularly since “Spider-Man” opened May 3 with a record $114.8 million for the three-day weekend, a record that is likely to stand for a while.

“It’s going to be very tough to live up to the summer season of 2002,” said Paul Dergarabedian, president of Exhibitor Relations Inc.

-- Lorenza Munoz

*--* MOVIE 3-DAY GROSS TOTAL VENUES AVG/VENUE WEEKS (MILLIONS )

1. Anger Management $25.1 $80.0 3,570 $7,004 2 (Sony/Revolution)

2. Holes $16.3 $16.3 2,331 $6,993 1 (Disney)

3. Malibu’s Most $12.6 $12.6 2,503 $5,041 1 Wanted (Warner Bros.)

4. Bulletproof Monk $8.7 $11.7 2,955 $2,928 1 (MGM)

5. Phone Booth $5.7 $35.1 2,447 $2,319 3 (Fox)

6. What a Girl Wants $4.5 $27.2 2,930 $1,537 3 (Warner Bros.)

7. Bringing Down $3.3 $122.7 2,284 $1,437 7 the House (Disney)

8. A Man Apart $2.8 $22.8 2,174 $1,290 3 (New Line)

9. House of 1000 $2.52 $7.1 847 $2,978 2 Corpses (Miramax)

10. Chicago $2.5 $160.7 1,711 $1,462 17 (Lions Gate)

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Source: Individual film distributors