HOLLYWOOD - The Ring ran circles around its box office competition, opening to a well rounded $15 million, while Sweet Home Alabama was still dancing in second place with $9.6 million. Red Dragon finished third, scaring up $8.8 million.My Big Fat Greek Wedding was fourth with $7.2 million, down only 15 percent in its 27th weekend. It's already done over $169 million and is heading for $185 million. Abandon's soft $5.3 million opening tied for fifth with a less sweet Brown Sugar.
Revolution Studios and Columbia went wider with Punch-Drunk Love, averaging an impressive nearly $21,000 per theater at 78 runs. For details, see EXPANSIONS below.
Columbia also was celebrating strong international openings for XXX, which now has opened number one in 40 territories around the world. The film's worldwide cume is nearly $200 million now and is heading for $300 million. For details, see INTERNATIONAL below.
Key films were up 8 percent over last year -- $84.3 million versus $78.0 million.
THE TOP TEN
DreamWorks' PG-13 rated horror thriller The Ring opened solidly to a chart topping ESTIMATED $15.0 million at 1,981 theaters ($7,572 per theater).
The Ring's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Gore Verbinski, it stars Naomi Watts, Martin Henderson and Brian Cox.
"People were in the mood for a fun and scary movie," DreamWorks distribution head Jim Tharp said Sunday morning. "I guess you could say the audience had goose bumps on top of goose bumps, but they had a good time with it. We had sneaks last weekend at 400 locations and I think certainly the word of mouth helped Friday night. There was a 31 percent increase from Friday to Saturday, which in itself is remarkable and indicates good word of mouth and that it plays broader than the under-25 crowd."
With Halloween approaching, will DreamWorks go wider with The Ring? "We're going to add 300 to 500 runs on Friday (Oct. 25)," Tharp replied. "Halloween, itself, is not a good movie day, but having movies like this in the (pre-Halloween) marketplace that are both scary and fun helps a lot."
Asked if the World Series had hurt at the box office, Tharp said, "I didn't notice a lot of impact. It might have had a slight negative impact, but not much."
Buena Vista/Touchstone's PG-13 rated romantic comedy Sweet Home Alabama held on to second place in its third week, still looking good with an ESTIMATED $9.6 million (-32%) at 3,282 theaters (-31 theaters; $2,926 per theater). Its cume is approximately $98.5 million, heading for $125 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Andy Tennant, it stars Reese Witherspoon.
Universal and Dino De Laurentiis's R rated thriller Red Dragon, presented in association with Metro-Goldwyn-Mayer Pictures, slid two pegs to third place in its third week with an ESTIMATED $8.8 million (-50%) at 3,307 theaters (-56 theaters; $2,660 per theater). Its cume is approximately $77.8 million, heading for $100 million.
Directed by Brett Ratner, it stars Anthony Hopkins, Edward Norton, Ralph Fiennes, Harvey Keitel, Emily Watson, Mary-Louise Parker and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
IFC Films' release of Gold Circle Films and HBO's PG rated romantic comedy blockbuster My Big Fat Greek Wedding rose one slot to fourth place in its 27th week, still showing remarkably strong legs with an ESTIMATED $7.15 million (-15%) at 2,014 theaters (-2 theaters; $3,552 per theater). Its cume is approximately $169.3 million, heading for $185 million in domestic theaters.
Directed by Joel Zwick, it stars Nia Vardalos and John Corbett.
Paramount and Spyglass Entertainment's PG-13 rated thriller Abandon kicked off in an uneventful fifth place tie with a weak ESTIMATED $5.3 million at 2,341 theaters ($2,264 per theater).
Written and directed by Stephen Gaghan, it stars Katie Holmes and Benjamin Bratt.
Abandon is another in a series of recent under-performing openings from Paramount. It follows Four Feathers, the romantic historical action epic which opened poorly despite high hopes Sept. 20 to $6.9 million ($3,587 per theater). This summer was a disappointing one for Paramount, which July 19 launched InterMedia Films' expensive Harrison Ford submarine drama K-19: The Widowmaker to a modest $12.8 million ($4,519 per theater).
Paramount failed to connect with family audiences earlier in the summer with Nickelodeon Films' animated feature Hey Arnold! The Movie, which opened June 28 to $5.7 million ($2,258 per theater). It did, however, do unexpectedly well, however, Aug. 2 with its late summer opening of the low budget urban appeal concert film Martin Lawrence Live: Runteldat, grossing $7.4 million ($9,806 per theater).
