New Line Cinema's R rated vampire thriller Blade 2 slid three pegs to fourth place in its second week with a less thrilling ESTIMATED $13.18 million (-59%) at 2,707 theaters (theater count unchanged; $4,867 per theater). Its cume is approximately $54.9 million, heading for $75 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Guillermo Del Toro, it stars Wesley Snipes.
Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' PG rated time travel adventure Clockstoppers kicked off in fifth place to a slow paced ESTIMATED $10.1 million at 2,540 theaters ($3,976 per theater).
Directed by Jonathan Frakes, it stars Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, French Stewart, Michael Biehn and Robin Thomas.
"It's on the low side of where I thought it would be, frankly," Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning. "I think Rookie did more business than we anticipated. Our picture is playing a little younger than we had anticipated. But this genre of film normally will play to a higher multiple because it stays in the marketplace a lot longer. It does matinee business and weekend business [that] sort of extends the life of the film, if you will."
Asked why business this March is so good, Lewellen replied, "I assume that it's just the product that's coming into the marketplace. Certainly, pictures like Ice Age that has broad family appeal has really pumped up (business). I think Rookie is of that same kind of genre. I think the quality of the product in the end probably is always the key to [strong ticket sales].
"But it could be that the country's in a mood to go to the movies or a combination of the two. Usually, that's what it is. There's no one dramatic thing that says this is why they're coming to the movies. You don't have a Titanic, if you will, driving the whole market."
Universal's 20th anniversary reissue of its PG rated sci-fi fantasy drama E.T. dropped three notches to sixth place with a slow ESTIMATED $6.13 million (-57%) at 3,007 theaters (theater count unchanged; $2,040 per theater). Its reissue cume is approximately $24.3 million.
Directed by Steven Spielberg, it stars Dee Wallace, Peter Coyote, Drew Barrymore and Henry Thomas.