HOLLYWOOD - There was little for Hollywood to cheer about this weekend as ticket sales skidded 17 percent from last year and three films opened to modest business. It was the summer's worst box office weekend compared to last year. The only other down weekend this summer was the weekend of May 31-June 2 when key films dropped a marginal 2.6 percent.
Some insiders speculated Sunday morning that after Wall Street's summer crash Americans just weren't in the right mood this weekend to go out in family groups to have a jolly time at the movies.
"There is a malaise in America and it's impacting on Hollywood," one observer insisted. Although the film industry traditionally does very well during troubled times because it provides a relatively inexpensive form of escape, the present Wall Street crisis has knocked average Americans for a loop as they realize how their retirement plans have plunged in value.
Other insiders, however, countered that the weekend's lackluster grosses really just reflected how moviegoers reacted to the new product arriving in the marketplace.
Stuart Little 2 and Road To Perdition tied for first place with $15.6 million in Sunday's estimates. That horse race will be resolved Monday when final figures are announced.
The Hollywood radar screen had positioned Stuart 2 for a $25 million launch. Columbia said it was encouraged that the sequel, which reportedly cost $110 million, had arrived in line with the $15.0 million opening for first Stuart in 1999.
DreamWorks said it was pleased Road expanded so well in its second weekend and pointed out that its drop of only 29 percent suggested word of mouth is favorable.
Columbia's parent company Sony Pictures Entertainment had cause to celebrate with three films in the Top Five. Besides Stuart 2, Sony's Men In Black II was third with $14.8 million and Mr. Deeds was fifth with $7.3 million. Together Sony's three titles grossed about $38 million, which is roughly a third of the overall marketplace and about 57 percent of the Top Five.
Paramount and Intermedia's submarine drama K-19: The Widowmaker surfaced in shallow fourth place waters to a soggy $12.3 million despite being anchored by superstar Harrison Ford. Insiders had projected that K-19, which was fully financed by Intermedia and reportedly cost in the high $90 millions not counting interest charges, would sail into theaters with as much as $20 million.