Meg Ryan has not enjoy a hit since re-teaming with Tom Hanks for a third time in You've Got Mail. After disappointing results with the tearjerker Hanging Up and the political thriller Proof of Life, Ryan returns to the realm of romantic comedies with Kate & Leopold. The time-bending yarn, co-starring Hugh Jackman as a 19th-century blueblood transported to 21st-century New York, opened Christmas Day with a lukewarm $2.5 million but made a respectable $9.7 million last weekend. Its total through Wednesday is $23.4 million, guaranteeing Ryan her biggest hit since You've Got Mail. Not that the dull and cliché-ridden Kate & Leopold will come close to matching the $115.8 million that You've Got Mail made in 1998.
Two animated adventures should continue to keep kids amused this weekend. Jimmy Neutron: Boy Genius soared to $51.5 million on Wednesday, making it the third consecutive hit spin-off of a popular Nickelodeon TV show. The smart Jimmy Neutron should landed safety between The Rugrats Movie's $100.4 million and Rugrats In Paris's $76.5 million.
Disney/Pixar's Monsters, Inc. experience a major power surge last weekend, jumping 61 percent last weekend from $3.8 million to $6.1 million. Its total is $240 million through Wednesday, bringing its well within reach of Toy Story 2, which, at $245.8 million, stands as the most successful of the four Disney/Pixar collaborations.
Shrek lost its box office crown in late December when Harry Potter surpassed its $267.6 million gross. Chances are the green but not-so mean ogre could find himself unexpectedly caught in the shadow of two energy producing monsters and a lost little girl.