Expansions

On the expansion front, this weekend saw Fox Searchlight Pictures R rated hit thriller The Deep End go wider in its fifth week with a still encouraging ESTIMATED $0.9 million (-35%) at 401 theaters (+75 theaters; $2,254 per theater). Its cume is approximately $5.8 million.

Written produced and directed by Scott McGehee and David Siegel, it stars Tilda Swinton, Goran Visnjic and Jonathan Tucker.

MGM's release of United Artists' R rated youth appeal comedy Ghost World continued to widen in its eighth week with an okay ESTIMATED $0.39 million (-12%) at 91 theaters (+10 theaters; $4,246 per theater). Its cume is approximately $3.7 million.

Directed by Terry Swigoff, it stars Thora Birch, Scarlett Johansson, Brad Renfro, Illeana Douglas and Steve Buscemi.

Miramax's R rated Apocalypse Now Redux widened in its sixth week with a still promising ESTIMATED $0.29 million (-35%) at 92 theaters (+11 theaters; $3,097 per theater). Its cume is approximately $3.2 million.

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola, it stars Marlon Brando, Robert Duvall, Martin Sheen, Laurence Fishburne, Dennis Hopper and Harrison Ford.

International

On the international front, Universal reported that its domestic blockbuster The Fast and the Furious had its first major international release this weekend in Mexico with a strong ESTIMATED $0.75 million at 237 theaters, putting it number one in the market. Over the next three months Fast will open around the world, including this Friday (Sept. 14) in the U.K. and Sept. 20 in Australia.

Domestically, Fast is winding down its theatrical run after 12 weeks with a cume of $142.5 million.

Universal also said Sunday morning that its international release of Jurassic Park III has now hit $160 million with eight countries yet to open. Domestically, JP III has a cume of $177 million, giving it a worldwide cume to date of about $337 million.

Bridget Jones's Diary, which Universal and Miramax co-financed, has done about $122 million in its international release via Universal and still has 12 countries to open.

Universal said that in its third weekend in Germany Bridget moved up to first place with a $2.1 million gross that was up 1 percent from the previous weekend and up 43 percent from its opening weekend. Its cume in Germany is now $8.2 million.

In its third weekend in Austria, Bridget moved back to first place, grossing $265,000 at 65 theaters with a cume of $1.3 million.

Bridget opened in Hong Kong this weekend to very strong ticket sales of $238,000 at 24 theaters. Universal said its gross was 155 percent bigger than the opening for Billy Elliot, 55 percent ahead of Shakespeare in Love and 20 percent better than Liar, Liar.

Final top ten list for summer of 2001

Based on their actual cumes through Labor Day (Sept. 3), this summer's top ten grossing films were:

(1) Shrek (DreamWorks)- $262,908,727

(2) The Mummy Returns (Universal) - $201,707,090

(3) Rush Hour 2 (New Line) - $198,892,734

(4) Pearl Harbor (BV/Touchstone) - $196,656,492

(5) Jurassic Park III (Universal) - $175,832,085

(6) Planet of the Apes (Fox) - $173,069,748

(7) The Fast and the Furious (Universal) - $142,028,935

(8) Lara Croft: Tomb Raider (Paramount) - $130,722,949

(9) American Pie 2 (Universal) - $124,928,149

(10) Dr. Dolittle 2 (Fox) - $111,484,392

Weekend comparisons

Key films--those grossing more than $500,000--took in approximately $69.77 million, up about 28.97 per cent from the comparable weekend last year when key films grossed $54.1 million.

This weekend's key film gross cannot be compared to last weekend of this year, which was a four day holiday weekend.

Last year, Universal's opening week of The Watcher was first with $9.06 million at 2,742 theaters ($3,305 per theater); and USA Films' opening week of Nurse Betty was second with $7.15 million at 1,459 theaters ($4,898 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $16.2 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $19.0 million.