By the Numbers

By R. Kinsey Lowe

Oct. 5, 2004 12 AM PT

Weekend box office

When actual figures were tallied Monday, “Shark Tale” came in a little lower than the $49.1 million that DreamWorks projected on Sunday. With a gross of $47.6 million, the film still delivered DreamWorks’ second-best debut after “Shrek 2,” but the best October opening weekend numbers belong to “Scary Movie 3,” which grossed $48.1 million on Oct. 24-26, 2003.

In a limited debut, David O. Russell’s “I {heart} Huckabees” appeared to be poised to join Fox Searchlight’s string of successes -- “Napoleon Dynamite,” “Garden State” and “Johnson Family Vacation” -- with an estimated $292,177 in a pair of theaters each in Los Angeles and in New York for an impressive per-venue average of $73,044. Searchlight will expand the release gradually to more than 1,000 theaters on Oct. 22.

-- R. Kinsey Lowe

*--* MOVIE (STUDIO) 3-DAY GROSS TOTAL (MILL.) VENUES AVG VENUE WEEKS

1 Shark Tale $47.6 $47.6 4,016 $11,854 1 (DreamWorks)

2 Ladder 49 $22.1 $22.1 3,260 $6,776 1 (Buena Vista)

3 The Forgotten $11.8 $38.1 3,144 $3,760 2 (Sony)

4 Sky Captain $3.3 $30.6 2,721 $1,205 3 and the World of Tomorrow (Paramount)

5 Mr. 3000 $2.53 $19.1 2,239 $1,128 3 (Buena Vista)

6 Shaun of the $2.5 $6.9 645 $3,847 2 Dead (Focus)

7 Woman Thou $2.33 $2.33 408 $5,700 1 Art Loosed (Magnolia)

8 Resident $2.3 $47.0 1,986 $1,163 4 Evil: Apocalypse (Sony)

9 First Daughter $2.2 $7.1 2,280 $947 2 (Fox)

10 Cellular $2.0 $28.2 2,020 $997 4 (New Line)