Sexes split plexes
Femme pic 'Hanging Up' ties 'Nine' for B.O. lead
For the most part, female auds hung with "Hanging," while "Nine" skewed male, according to exit polls. Both opened on a similar number of screens and both were mid-budget efforts engineered for a fertile off-peak release slot like Prexy Day.
"You don't get a lot of female-oriented pictures that open this big," said Jeff Blake, distrib chief at Sony.
At a negative cost of roughly $40 million, "Hanging" has a good shot at profitability.
Warner Bros' distrib topper Dan Fellman insisted auds had elected "Nine," pointing to its slim lead through Sunday.
"I don't think there's any doubt we're on top," Fellman said.
In the first weekend since Oscar noms were announced, "American Beauty" left the biggest footprint among multi-nommed pics, finishing ninth with $6.4 million. DreamWorks' distrib chief Jim Tharp said it's one of the most successful Oscar re-launches in history.
Drama had dwindled to seven locations after 23 weeks, but shot up to 1,287 playdates last Friday and still managed a $4,973 print average. Cume has reached $81.2 million.
Disney's best-picture hopeful "The Insider" didn't fare as well, managing just $225,000 on 132 screens in L.A. and Gotham. Screen average of $1,705 isn't ideal portent heading into Friday, when pic expands to 500-700 runs.
Universal's "The Hurricane" may have been the most obvious commercial victim of Oscar's cold shoulder. With just one nom (for star Denzel Washington), pic plummeted 33% in its eighth week.
It collected $2.7 million from 1,711 theaters, for an average of $1,578. Cume is $46.4 million, which leaves U ahead of pic's production cost but still in the red given its considerable marketing expense.
"The Cider House Rules" trailed "The Green Mile" by a fraction, according to estimates. Miramax's Oscar-charmed drama took in $3.3 million, or $3,850 on each of 857 screens. Partly due to addition of 55 screens, that gross spiked 116% over last weekend's three-day level.
Overall B.O., buoyed by boffo sophomore weeks for family films "Snow Day" and "The Tigger Movie," should total $130 million for the four-day holiday frame, ACNielsen EDI estimated. That's up 12% from the comparable span in 1999.
Elie Samaha, chairman and CEO of Franchise Pictures, which co-financed "Nine Yards," predicted a $500,000 margin of victory after the receipts are tallied up Tuesday morning.
Whatever the final numbers, the gross gave Samaha a measure of validation. Pic is the first in a string of high-profile Franchise pics that Warners will distribute. Upcoming are "Battlefield Earth" with John Travolta, "Get Carter" with Sylvester Stallone, and "The Art of War" with Wesley Snipes.
"People were wondering if Elie Samaha could open the first movie out of the gate," said the vet producer. "But we can put that speculation on the shelf until the next one comes out."
Solid launches
Aside from the two leaders, frame saw two other solid launches: USA's "Pitch Black," which led all wide releases with a $7,651 screen average, and New Line's "Boiler Room," which registered a bullish $7.1 million from 1,335 sites.
With an estimated $14 million in the till, "Pitch" is on track to be the highest grosser yet for Barry Diller's fledgling USA Films. Aggressively supported via TV, including one pricey Super Bowl spot, sci-fi thriller was well-positioned to snag teen auds alienated by other titles.
"These numbers show our capability to do this kind of film," said Jack Foley, distrib chief at USA, whose best commercial effort to date is "Being John Malkovich."
The only top films that endured audience erosion were Miramax's "Scream 3," which fell 40% in its third week, and Fox's "The Beach," off 48% despite the holiday boost.
While "The Whole Nine Yards" captured adult male auds and "Hanging Up" found favor with women, kids had three choices over the weekend: Paramount's "Snow Day," Disney's "The Tigger Movie" or doing their homework. Not surprisingly, they didn't choose the latter.
"Snow," a broad comedy starring Chevy Chase, gave the top two pics a good fight, ending up with $14.8 million, up 3% over last weekend, when it also finished third. Cume of Nickelodeon Films release is already $31.5 million.
'Tigger' in the black
Though it occupies a more humble place in the Disney animation scheme, "Tigger" shares the shrewd business strategy of Mouse House's more expensive toons.
Especially considering rich ancillary rewards (remember, "Tigger" originally was conceived as straight-to-video) pic is well on its way to padding the studio's bottom line. After $10.5 million holiday, cume stands at $22.3 million.
Debuting in limited release were Sony Classics' "Not One Less" and Trimark Pictures' "Beautiful People."
"Not," from celebrated Chinese director Zhang Yimou, bowed at three theaters in Gotham and two in L.A., totaling $51,153, or $10,231 apiece.
"Beautiful," a tale of Yugoslavian refugees in London, posted a healthy $14,703 at one Gotham art house.
Fine Line's "The Cup" added seven theaters for a total of 19. G-rated soccer feel-gooder brought in $98,598 for the extended frame. Cume is about $300,000 entering Week 4.
