SNEAK PREVIEWS

Buena Vista/Disney held 1,151 sneak previews Saturday night of its G rated drama The Rookie and said the picture was well attended and played very well.

Directed by John Lee Hancock, it stars Dennis Quaid.

A BV spokeswoman said the sneaks played to 80 percent capacity with a 90 percent exit poll score. "The demographics were 53 percent male and 47 percent female," she added. "As far as age, I don't have specifics yet, but it's across the board. It did excellently."

Rookie opens wide Mar. 29.

EXPANSIONS

On the expansion front this weekend USA Films' R rated romantic comedy Monsoon Wedding added theaters in its fourth week with a still attractive ESTIMATED $0.81 million (+5%) at 98 theaters (+22 theaters; $8,210 per theater). Its cume is approximately $2.2 million.

Directed by Mira Nair, it was produced by Nair and Caroline Baron.

Miramax's R rated romantic comedy Italian For Beginners added a few theaters in its ninth week with a quiet ESTIMATED $0.28 million (-21%) at 81 theaters (+2 theaters; $3,395 per theater). Its cume is approximately $2.5 million.

Directed by Lone Scherfig, it stars Anders Berthelsen.

INTERNATIONAL

Universal's international division reported Sunday that Spy Game opened in first place in Germany to $1.3 million on 607 playdates in its first 3 days (Thurs. - Sat.).

A Beautiful Mind, which DreamWorks is releasing internationally and Universal distributed domestically, continued to perform strongly in territories throughout the world. The picture placed fourth in Germany with $765,000 on 365 playdates. Its 17-day cume there is $4.6 million.

In Austria, Spy was number one with $140,000 on 63 playdates. Mind ranked third with $76,000 on 47

playdates.

Mind topped the chart in Australia for the third consecutive week, grossing $1.1 million on 220 playdates. It has 28% market share Down Under with an 11-day cume of $4.5 million.

In the U.K., Mind grossed $685,000 on 378 playdates and ranked fifth in its fourth week.

In Spain, Mind was third in its fourth week with $400,000 on 206 playdates and a 22-day cume of $5.1 million.

In Argentina, Mind is in its fourth week and is No. 3. So far this weekend, it has grossed $104k on 46 playdates, down only 10%.

In Brazil, Mind is in its fifth weekend and moved up to second place from third with $236,000 on 153 playdates, level with the previous week. Its 30-day cume is $3.2 million.

Mind was second in Mexico in its third week with $375,000 on 170 playdates and a cume of $3.2 million.

WEEKEND COMPARISONS

Key films -- those grossing more than $500,000 -- took in approximately $137.15 million, up about 75.08 percent from last year when they totaled $78.34 million.

Key films for this three day weekend were up about 38.76% from the previous weekend of this year's total of $98.84 million.

Last year, Warner Bros.' opening week of Exit Wounds was first with $18.49 million at 2,830 theaters ($6,532 per theater); and Paramount's opening week of Enemy At The Gates was second with $13.81 million at 1,509 theaters ($9,152 per theater). The top two films one year ago grossed $32.3 million. This year, the top two films grossed an ESTIMATED $66.1 million.