Sea saga steams to $156 mil
'Titanic' sets New Year's Day record, boosts boffo weekend B.O.
The disaster pic continued to leave broken records in its wake, this time racking up the best New Year's Day box office with $11.6 million. But "Titanic" enjoyed the highest-grossing day of its 17-day run on Saturday, when it pulled in $12.7 million.
In its third weekend, "Titanic" managed the second-best January performance ever, behind the record $35.9 million opening weekend of Fox's "Star Wars" reissue last year.
'Titanic' fever contagious
"Titanic" fever helped raise the overall box office temperature as well: Films grossing over $500,000 are expected to total about $121 million -- a hefty 35% boost over this time last year.
Paramount distribution president Wayne Lewellen attributed the market's huge expansion to a combination of high-quality product and additional seats made available by the recent megaplex-building boom. Lewellen estimated that for any given show, "Titanic" was available on about 1.4 million seats.
Despite the newfound seating capacity, however, "Titanic" continued to sell out during certain prime evening shows. That helped pump up overall business by sending spillover crowds to other pictures, according to Lewellen.
Top-five remain
With no new wide releases entering the market, the ranking of top-five films remained unchanged. MGM's "Tomorrow Never Dies" once again took second place, dropping 29% to $14.6 million.
At No. 3, Sony's "As Good As It Gets" enjoyed a particularly promising hold, dropping just 2% to $12.3 million in its second outing. The Jack Nicholson-Helen Hunt starrer boarded at 1,579 kennels for an auspicious $7,790 average.
Jeff Blake, Sony distribution chief, projected that a blend of positive word-of-mouth, awards and a lack of direct competition in coming weeks will push the picture's cume to between $80 million and $100 million.
DreamWorks' "Mouse Hunt" continued to be the pic of choice for the 4-feet-and-under crowd, dipping just 10% to $8.7 million. With some school holidays coming to an end today, the film is likely to see a sharp drop in midweek attendance. Still, with a 17-day cume of $40.3 million, the slapstick comedy should finish respectably between $50 million and $60 million.
'Scream 2' controversy
Controversy once again swirled around Miramax's box office reporting on "Scream 2." While the minimajor projected the horror sequel's three-day take at $8 million, rival distributors put the number between $6.4 million and $7.5 million.
Daily Variety estimated the weekend gross at $7.4 million, a drop of 19% from the previous frame. That moved the film to No. 6, below Miramax's own "Jackie Brown," which picked up a reported $7.7 million.
Leading a handful of upscale pics that made limited debuts over the weekend, Universal's "The Boxer" knocked out $93,500 in three rings in New York, L.A. and Toronto, or $31,167 per round.
Since its Wednesday opening, the Daniel Day-Lewis/Emily Watson starrer has cumed $137,000.
The picture expands to 500 theaters Friday and adds more sites on Jan. 16.
"We want to strike while the iron's hot," said Nikki Rocco, Universal president of distribution, of the studio's decision to forgo a more gradual platform release. The film has garnered three Golden Globe noms and critical praise.
'Boxer' potential
Rocco said she believes "The Boxer" has considerably more commercial potential than "In the Name of the Father," the previous collaboration between Day-Lewis and director James Sheridan. Released on Dec. 29, 1993, "Father" opened to $109,000 in four theaters and went on to gross $25 million.
Fox Searchlight's "Oscar and Lucinda" bowed to $82,100 in seven New York and L.A. locations, or $11,728 per screen. The Ralph Fiennes-Cate Blanchett romance has wooed $134,000 since its Wednesday bow.
Among platform expansions, Fine Line's "Deconstructing Harry" put together a solid $2.2 million take after expanding from 79 to 443 theaters. That gave the Woody Allen comedy a $4,887 average. Cume to date is just under $5 million.
'Dog' digs up $1.3 mil
Even more promising, New Line's "Wag the Dog" dug up $1.3 million in 69 locations, or $18,405 per site. The Barry Levinson-helmed satire has cumed $1.6 million since its exclusive opening 11 days ago.
Miramax's "Good Will Hunting" jumped 30% to $2.2 million after adding just seven screens, bringing its total to 164. The film, which expands to 1,500 theaters Friday, has cumed $7.4 million to date.
