Weekend box office

Just when Hollywood thought the summer box-office season was stuck in the doldrums, along comes Jerry Bruckheimer to the rescue. The quintessential action producer had the weekend’s top two movies -- “Bad Boys II” and “Pirates of the Caribbean.”

The weekend’s top 12 pictures grossed about 34% more than the films released over the same weekend last year, according to Exhibitor Relations Co. Overall, this summer’s $2.59 billion in box office is running just 1% short of last year by this date. Attendance, however, is down about 4.5%.

-- Robert W. Welkos

*--* Movie (STUDIO) 3-Day Gross Total (Millions) Venues Avg Per Venue Weeks

1Bad Boys II $46.5 $46.5 3,186 $14,602 1 (Sony)

2 Pirates of $34.0 $133.0 3,359 $10,132 2 the Caribbean (Buena Vista)

3 The League of $10.2 $42.5 3,002 $3,384 2 Extraordinary Gentlemen (Fox)

4 Terminator 3: $9.3 $118.6 3,404 $2,740 3 Rise of the Machines (Warner Bros.)

5 Johnny English $9.1 $9.1 2,236 $4,085 1 (Universal)

6 Finding Nemo $7.3 $303.8 2,480 $2,934 8 (Buena Vista)

7 Legally $6.1 $75.5 3,205 $1,910 3 Blonde 2: Red, White & Blonde (MGM)

8 How to Deal $5.8 $5.8 2,319 $2,505 1 (New Line)

9 Charlie’s $3.8 $89.2 2,261 $1,686 4 Angels: Full Throttle (Sony)

10 28 Days Later $2.5 $30.9 1,310 $1,940 4 (Fox Searchlight)

*--*

Source: Exhibitor Relations Co.