Columbia's R rated romantic comedy The Sweetest Thing opened in third place to a semi-sweet ESTIMATED $10.0 million at 2,670 theaters ($3,745 per theater).

Directed by Roger Kumble, it stars Cameron Diaz, Christina Applegate and Selma Blair.

"Young girls in their high teens and 20s were the strongest audience," Sony's Jeff Blake said. "The nice surprise was that young males liked it as well as the young females. We hope that as really one of the few comedies in the market we can hang in there."

20th Century Fox's PG rated animated feature Ice Age slipped one peg to fourth place in its fifth week, still frozen solid with an ESTIMATED $8.7 million (-36%) at 3,011 theaters (-189 theaters; $2,889 per theater). Its cume is approximately $151.8 million, heading for $175 million or more in domestic theaters.

Directed by Chris Wedge, it features the voices of Ray Romano, John Leguizamo and Denis Leary.

"It's holding wonderfully," Fox distribution president Bruce Snyder said Sunday morning, "especially (considering that) The Rookie is still in the market doing business to families and so is Clockstoppers."

Buena Vista/Disney's G rated family appeal baseball drama The Rookie fell one base to fifth place in its third week, still showing great legs with an ESTIMATED $8.1 million (-30%) at 2,520 theaters (-4 theaters; $3,234 per theater). Its cume is approximately $45.4 million.

Directed by John Lee Hancock, it stars Dennis Quaid.

20th Century Fox and Regency Enterprises' PG-13 rated thriller High Crimes fell four rungs to sixth place in its second week with a slower ESTIMATED $8.01 million (-43%) at 2,747 theaters (+30 theaters; $2,914 per theater). Its cume is approximately $25.5 million, heading for $40 million or more.

Directed by Carl Franklin, it stars Ashley Judd and Morgan Freeman.

Paramount and Nickelodeon Movies' PG rated time travel adventure Clockstoppers held on to seventh place in its third week with an okay ESTIMATED $4.77 million (-35%) at 2,512 theaters (-51 theaters; $1,897 per theater). Its cume is approximately $28.2 million, heading for $40 million-plus in domestic theaters.

Directed by Jonathan Frakes, it stars Jesse Bradford, Paula Garces, French Stewart, Michael Biehn and Robin Thomas.

"We're still $12 million or so away from the (projected) $40 million, but these kind of films have sort of an extended life in matinee business," Paramount's Wayne Lewellen said Sunday morning. "We find that to be true with all of the family (product). They hang on."

Artisan Entertainment's R rated youth comedy National Lampoon's Van Wilder, which was sixth last week, tied for eighth place in its second week with a less funny ESTIMATED $4.2 million (-43%) at 2,104 theaters (+82 theaters; $1,996 per theater). Its cume is approximately $13.8 million, heading for $20 million in domestic theaters.

Directed by Walt Becker, it stars Ryan Reynolds and Tara Reid.

"We're figuring it's going to top out at $20 million, which for us will be successful because we made the film for between $5-6 million," Artisan domestic theatrical distribution president Steve Rothenberg said Sunday morning.

"These R rated comedies always do extraordinarily well in video. Kids who are 13, 14 or 15 go to a movie theater and cannot get into (R rated films if) they're not accompanied (by an adult). Yet they can go to the local (video store) three months later when it's out and rent it with no questions asked. These films typically over perform versus box office when they go to video. So we're very optimistic about it doing very, very well on the video side."