The weekend's other wide opening, Warner Bros and Village Roadshow's low budget horror film Eight Legged Freaks, didn't make the Top Five. It crawled into seventh place with an unlucky $6.7 million.

Key films -- those grossing $500,000 or more -- took in $116.3 million versus last year's $140.2 million.

THE TOP TEN

Columbia's PG rated family comedy sequel Stuart Little 2 kicked off in a tie for first place with a hopeful ESTIMATED $15.6 million at 3,255 theaters ($4,793 per theater).

Directed by Rob Minkoff, it stars Geena Davis.

"The first one opened to $15.0 million on Dec. 17, 1999 and did $140 million," Sony Pictures Entertainment worldwide marketing & distribution president Jeff Blake said Sunday morning.

"As I've heard our friends at Disney say so many times and patiently explain about family films, sometimes with a good opening it just keeps getting better because it is a seven day a week business. It's a matter of organizing the family to go and if you've got a picture that people enjoy it plays a very long time."

Asked about projections that had suggested Stuart 2 would open to $25 million, Blake replied, "I think that family films are always hard to predict because it's not a matter of dropping kids off (as it is with) teenagers who make their own plans. It's always subject to the events that are going on for the family, which I think is why it gets spread out a little bit. We're counting on good business straight throughout the week and good holdovers similar to the first one."

Another aspect of the family films business that Disney has experienced over the years is the fact that lower priced tickets for youngsters result in lower grosses than an adult film would have with the same number of admissions. "There's no question (about the effect of lower priced tickets). A lot of little people went to see this show," Blake explained. "Certainly, our audience was families with kids of all ages attending with their parents. This is not a drop off at the mall picture."

In addition, he said, it's a film that is expected to have "great ancillaries (and the original) was one of the best selling titles (in home video) that Sony ever had."

All told, Blake pointed out, "We're pleased with the opening, pleased to be in the same ballpark as the original and hope we have that kind of playability. Our exit polls are even better than the original. We have over 90 percent in the Top Two Boxes (excellent and very good) and an A-plus CinemaScore.

"And really (it's a film) that not only younger children enjoy, (but) if truth be told, older children once attending enjoy as well. So it really is the perfect film for the whole family. We know that word will keep spreading. I hope it keeps unrolling through the rest of the summer and certainly we expect good mid-week business right off the bat."

As for the overall marketplace, Blake observed, "It's one of the first down weekends (this summer). Everybody got a certain segment, but you didn't have one of those pictures that absolutely got everybody. You had two really high chart openings (last year in Jurassic Park III with nearly $51 million and America's Sweethearts with just over $30 million). As you look ahead, though, you've got three weeks coming of tremendous product -- Austin Powers in Goldmember, Signs and XXX."