HOLLYWOOD - Dinosaurs established a firm foothold at the box office over the weekend and braced for an onslaught of apes on Friday. Universal's Jurassic Park III exceeded analysts' -- even the studio's -- forecasts, as it earned $50.1 million in ticket sales over the weekend and $81.4 million since its opening on Wednesday. While many analysts were forecasting that next weekend should belong to Tim Burton's Planet of the Apes, some were not so sure, given the extraordinary results for the dinosaur movie. In second place was Sony's America's Sweethearts, which earned $30.2 million, one of the best results ever for a romantic comedy.
The top 10 films over the weekend, according to final figures compiled by Exhibitor Relations (figures in parentheses represent total gross to date):
1. Jurassic Park III, Universal, $50,771,645, ($81,385,755) (Opened Wednesday); 2. America's Sweethearts, Sony, $30,181,877, (New); 3. Legally Blonde, MGM, $11,103,700, ($43,488,647); 4. The Score, Paramount, $10,762,333, ($37,162,585); 5. Cats & Dogs, Warner Bros., $6,814,617, ($72,420,348); 6. The Fast and the Furious, Universal, $5,327,395, ($125,087,425); 7. Scary Movie 2, Miramax/Dimension, $4,523,493, ($61,823,992); 8. Doctor Dolittle 2, 20th Century Fox, $4,400,905, ($93,283,512); 9. Final Fantasy: The Spirits Within, Sony, $3,658,552, ($26,846,730); 10. Kiss of The Dragon, 20th Century Fox, $2,916,173, ($29,661,710); 1.1, Shrek, DreamWorks, $2,275,232, ($251,922,192); 1.2, A.I. Artificial Intelligence, Warner Bros., $2,168,939, ($74,522,517).