HOLLYWOOD - The Queen of the Damned was king of the box office with a royal opening of $15.2 million.Also driving the weekend were John Q, transplanted to second place with $12.5 million, and Dragonfly buzzing in third place with $10.4 million.
Families continued turning out for Return to Never Land, which finished fourth with $9.0 million. But fewer fans flocked to Britney Spears' Crossroads, which plunged 51 percent to fifth place with $7.1 million.
Key films -- those grossing $500,000 or more -- did about $106 million, up nearly 27 percent from last year's $83.8 million.
THE TOP TEN
(NOTE: Today's percentage comparisons are against the three day -- Friday to Sunday -- portion of last week's four day holiday period.)
Warner Bros. and Village Roadshow's R rated vampire thriller The Queen of the Damned kicked off in first place with a bloody good ESTIMATED $15.16 million at 2,511 theaters ($6,035 per theater).
Queen's average per theater was the highest for any film playing in wide release this weekend.
Directed by Michael Rymer, it stars Stuart Townsend and the late recording artist Aaliyah.
"It's the largest three day February opening in our company's history," Warner Bros. Distribution president Dan Fellman said Sunday morning.
Warners' previous February record, he said, was "$15.057 million a couple of weeks ago with Collateral Damage. And A Walk to Remember was the largest January opening we ever had (with $12.18 million the weekend of Jan. 25-27). So we've opened three movies (in a row) and we've been very effective with all three. And we're very optimistic about Showtime, which is coming up on Mar. 15 (an action comedy directed by Tom Dey and starring Robert De Niro, Eddie Murphy and Rene Russo)."
Focusing on Queen's strong arrival, Fellman said, "We're thrilled about it. The audience was predominantly ethnic. It was about 33 percent females under the age of 25 drawn